President Donald Trump’s disclosed oil and gas stock portfolio may have gained as much as $15.5 million this year as energy shares climbed during the Iran war, according to Democratic staff on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
The estimate is intensifying scrutiny of the president’s substantial investment holdings.
Trump reported owning between $12.5 million and $45.6 million in oil and gas stocks through his 2025 annual financial disclosure. Committee staff calculated that those holdings increased about 39 percent on average through Aug. 17.
Based on that estimated appreciation, the portfolio’s value could have reached between $17.2 million and $61.1 million.
The wide range reflects the federal disclosure system, which requires officials to report assets within broad value bands rather than provide exact figures.
The analysis identified Exxon Mobil and Chevron among Trump’s largest reported energy investments.
It also highlighted Valero Energy and Marathon Petroleum, whose shares have more than doubled since the beginning of the year.
Those gains arrived as geopolitical turmoil lifted crude prices and strengthened expectations for oil producer and refiner earnings.
Energy equities often benefit when supply concerns push petroleum prices and refining margins higher, although performance can vary sharply among individual companies.
The committee’s estimate depends on a central assumption that Trump continued holding the positions listed at the end of last year.
Without precise account balances and current portfolio records, investigators cannot determine the president’s exact profit or confirm whether every disclosed position remained unchanged.
The White House said Trump and his family exercise no control over the portfolio’s management.
“Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.
“All investment decisions are made entirely by independent managers.” That arrangement, the administration argues, prevents Trump or his relatives from influencing the timing, selection, or disposal of individual investments.
The Trump Organization has previously told CNBC that the investments sit in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent financial institutions.
Those institutions possess “sole and exclusive authority” over investment decisions, according to the company’s earlier statements.
The organization has also said Trump and his family receive no advance notice of trades and provide no direction regarding particular securities.
The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment concerning the committee’s latest findings.
The report adds another layer of political pressure surrounding Trump’s unusually large and frequently traded securities portfolio.
Democrats are expected to investigate his stock activity if they capture either chamber of Congress during the November midterm elections.
CNBC previously reported that Trump disclosed more than 21,000 securities transactions during 2025 across eight investment accounts.
Those accounts held at least $858 million in assets, indicating a portfolio of exceptional size for a sitting president.
CNBC has connected JPMorgan Chase, Charles Schwab, UBS, and Stephens Inc. to at least four of the accounts.
Independent management may limit Trump’s direct involvement, but the scale and timing of the transactions continue to attract congressional attention.
Democratic committee staff also concluded that Trump purchased as much as $3.6 million in additional oil and gas shares during the first three months of 2026.
The reported activity included Chevron purchases in the weeks after the United States operation in Venezuela.
The report linked the estimated portfolio appreciation to higher oil prices during the Iran war.
It calculated that major oil and gas producers generated about $125.2 billion in profits during the first half of 2026, while Americans paid an estimated $71.5 billion more for gasoline after the conflict began.
For congressional Democrats, the contrast is politically potent. Consumers absorbed higher fuel costs while energy producers prospered, and the president’s disclosed portfolio may have captured millions of dollars from the same market surge.
The findings do not establish that Trump personally ordered any energy trade or knew when independent managers bought and sold shares.
They do, however, sharpen questions about financial conflicts, disclosure requirements, and whether current safeguards provide sufficient transparency for presidential investments.
Exact gains remain impossible to calculate from public filings alone.
Yet the committee’s estimate presents a striking picture of a vast presidential portfolio potentially rising alongside a war driven energy shock that imposed substantial costs on American motorists.
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