Tuesday, 01 November 2022 – U.S. President, Joe Biden has called on oil and gas companies to use their record profits to lower costs for Americans and increase production, or pay a higher tax rate, as he battles high pump prices with elections coming in a week.
Global energy giants including Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) posted another round of huge quarterly profits, benefiting from surging natural gas and fuel prices that have boosted inflation around the world and led to fresh calls to further tax the sector.
In remarks at the White House on Monday, October 31, Biden criticized major oil companies who are making big profits while Americans, weary of inflation, pay high gas prices to fill up their cars.
The oil industry “has not met its commitment to invest in America and support the American people,” he said. They’re not just making a “fair return” he said, they’re making “profits so high it is hard to believe,” Biden said.
“Their profits are a windfall of war,” he said, of the conflict that is ravaging Ukraine, and they have a responsibility to act.
“I think it’s outrageous,” he said. If they passed those profits on to consumers, gasoline prices would be down about 50 cents, he said.
“If they don’t, they’re going to pay a higher tax on their excess profits, and face other restrictions,” he said. The White House will work with Congress to look at these options and others. “It’s time for these companies to stop war profiteering.”
He said oil and gas companies should invest their profits in lowering costs for Americans and increasing production and that if they do not, he will urge Congress to make oil companies to pay tax penalties and face other restrictions.
Biden made the remarks with a week to go until Americans decide whether his Democrats will remain in control of the U.S. Congress. Republicans are favored to take command of the House of Representatives, while the Senate could be a tied race.
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