US oil companies stand to receive a windfall of more than $60bn this year if crude prices maintain the levels they have hit since the start of the Iran war.

Modelling by investment bank Jefferies estimates American producers will generate an extra $5bn cash flow this month alone following a roughly 47 per cent rise in oil prices since the conflict began on February 28.

If US oil prices remain elevated and average $100 a barrel this year, the companies will receive a $63.4bn boost from oil production, according to energy research company Rystad.

As Brent crude prices surged past $100 on Thursday, President Donald Trump boasted in a social media post: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, settled at $98.71 a barrel on Friday.

The extra cash flow should benefit US shale companies, which have limited operations in the Middle East. But the picture is more complicated for the largest international oil companies.