While much of the world remains hopeful that the US-Israeli war against Iran may be nearing an end, amid news of a ceasefire agreement, the billionaire owners of some of the world’s largest energy companies may not be so thrilled.
A group of 41 energy tycoons in the Group of Seven (G7) countries have increased their combined wealth by US$23.5 billion since the war began in late February, according to a report released Monday, June 15, by Oxfam International (“Ending Impunity and Inequality“), as leaders of the world’s major industrialized economies meet this week in France.
The oil shocks caused by the war have led to a sharp increase in fuel prices, sending inflationary pressures throughout the global economy and straining the budgets of ordinary citizens around the world.
An April report by the UN Development Programme predicted that, as a result of the conflict, an additional 32 million people would be pushed into poverty by the end of the year.
However, between March 1 and May 18, the owners of the largest oil and energy companies in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the UK added an average of $300 million a day to their total wealth, according to Oxfam’s analysis of the Forbes real-time billionaires list.
“Conflicts destroy countries and cost countless lives, but for some they are extremely profitable,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.
“This is a brutal system that redistributes wealth upwards — from workers to shareholders, from the poorest to the richest, from those with the least power to those who already have too much. While families skip meals and governments cut life-saving aid, we are witnessing a disgusting ‘billionaires’ feast.’”
Accumulation of wealth
While their accumulation of wealth cannot be attributed solely to the war, Oxfam noted that the Big Six oil companies, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon and TotalEnergies, are projected to increase their profits this year by 80% above pre-war forecasts, while the average large company in the G7 countries surveyed is expected to see a rise of just 8%.
Billionaires worldwide saw their wealth increase by about 0.42% between March and mid-May. During the same period, G7 energy billionaires increased their wealth by 9%, while those specifically involved in oil and gas became almost 11% richer.
Oxfam notes that the war in Iran has further widened the already vast gap between rich and poor, largely due to the G7 countries.
While billionaire wealth has increased by almost $10 trillion since 2020, G7 countries—most notably the US under President Donald Trump—have cut aid to poorer countries by $48 billion, an amount equivalent to what G7 billionaires raised for themselves in just nine days.
Meanwhile, since 2019, the last time France chaired a G7 summit, Oxfam estimates that 44 people per minute have been in need of humanitarian assistance, according to 2025 data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Behar said that in order to secure U.S. participation at this week’s summit, French President Emmanuel Macron has chosen to avoid any discussions that could displease Trump, including the devastating costs of the Iran war, Israel’s U.S.-backed wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and anything to do with the climate crisis, which Trump has called a “fraud.”
“Rather than defending collective governance, Macron and his counterparts are adapting to its dismantling. This will have consequences measured in lives,” he said.
Oxfam called on the G6 countries—all G7 members except the U.S.—to create a comprehensive plan to protect people from the economic turmoil caused by war and other escalating global crises.
The G6 cannot plead weakness,” Behar added.
- “They can write off debts.
- They can tax super profits and extreme wealth…
- They can provide aid to poorer countries.
- Refusing to act simply because Washington is not participating is not diplomacy — it is cowardice. And it will only accelerate the G6’s slide toward global irrelevance.”
