Attacks on refineries across Russia and the Middle East sent global diesel prices surging, and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) was among the biggest beneficiaries of the resulting supply disruption.

American refiners moved swiftly to fill the gap left by damaged foreign capacity, and Chevron’s plants ran at 98% of capacity while processing a record of just over one million barrels per day.

The result was a refining profit figure that few analysts anticipated, with that segment alone generating $3.59 billion compared with just $638 million during the same period a year earlier.

Overall downstream operations earned $4.93 billion for the quarter, more than four times the $1.14 billion the division produced twelve months prior.

Those refining gains combined with stronger crude prices to lift Chevron’s total quarterly profit to $9.9 billion, roughly triple what the company earned in the year-ago period.

Earnings per share came in at $5.06, a dramatic improvement from $1.82 a year earlier, while adjusted earnings of $5.28 per share cleared Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $4.89 with room to spare.

Higher crude prices added further fuel to the quarter’s strong performance, with Brent averaging $97 per barrel against $69 during the comparable period, pushing upstream earnings to $5.7 billion from $3.3 billion.

The surge in profitability translated directly into cash generation, with Chevron producing $16 billion in operating cash flow and $12 billion in free cash flow, up sharply from $4.9 billion in free cash flow a year earlier.

Management deployed that capital on multiple fronts, cutting total debt by $3.5 billion during the quarter while sustaining share repurchases at $2.5 billion.

Looking beyond North America, Chevron disclosed plans for significant additional investment in Venezuela, where its joint ventures are expected to commit $7 billion over the coming five years.

Investors responded positively to the results, sending Chevron shares approximately 2% higher in premarket trading following the earnings release.

The quarter underscores how geopolitical instability, far from being a uniform drag on energy companies, can generate extraordinary windfalls for integrated oil majors with large and efficiently run refining operations.