House Democrats on Wednesday accused oil companies of"ripping off the American people" and putting profits before production as Americans suffer from ever-increasing gasoline prices amid the war in Ukraine.
"We do not control the market price of crude oil or natural gas, nor of refined products like gasoline and diesel fuel, and we have no tolerance for price gouging," said Chevron CEO Michael Wirth. "This is the Biden price hike,'' countered Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, the committee's top Republican.
Under questioning from Pallone, Woods and other CEOs said oil companies have no plans to halt payments of dividends to stockholders or to restrict stock buybacks that have enriched shareholders and company executives. The six companies at the hearing recorded $77 billion in profits last year, they told Pallone.
At a time of war and high prices,"oil companies should not be sending profits back to shareholders,'' she said, urging oil executives to restore production to pre-pandemic levels. Higher prices have hurt President Biden's approval domestically and added billions of oil-export dollars to the Russian government as it wages war on Ukraine.
We consume over 20 million barrels/day. I guess making America a net importer instead of a net exporter wasn't such a great idea. LGB
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