U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday accused the U.S. oil industry of exploiting supply shortages to boost profits.
Consumer price inflation accelerated in the United States last May, hitting record highs in petrol prices and rising food prices, leading to the largest annual increase in inflation in more than four decades.
Biden said he hopes to accelerate oil production, which is expected to reach record levels in the United States next year.
But he issued a warning to the sector, which has seen profits rise due to rising prices, noting that consumers are paying more than rising labor and shipping costs.
“Exxon has made huge profits this year,” Biden said in a speech to port workers and union representatives in Los Angeles Harbor. He explained that American oil companies are using profits to repurchase stocks without examining profits.
“Why don’t they drill? Because they make more money without producing more oil,” he stressed. He told Exxon that it should “start investing and start paying its taxes.”
Exxon recorded its biggest quarterly profit in seven years when it posted fourth-quarter earnings in February. In May, Shell recorded record profits in the first quarter, while Chevron and BP recorded the best results in ten years.
Many companies have said that lowering the price of crude oil to more than $ 100 a barrel would reduce the cost of increasing oil production, which is exactly what investors are asking for.