………”Exxon made more money than God last year,” Biden alleged
America’s oil major, Exxon, has denied President Joe Biden’s allegations that it was among refiners in the US making undue profit from the crises in Ukraine. The company says indeed it is investing more than it is reaping.
Headlines across the globe on Tuesday captured Biden’s allegations that US oil refiners were recording tripling profits since the Russia-Ukraine hostilities, even as Americans struggle with record high prices at the pump.
In a memo to ExxonMobil, Valero Energy, and Marathon Petroleum early in the week, Biden harped on the need for the oil majors to produce more gasoline and lower gasoline bills for American consumers.
The US president actually warned the companies that his administration is prepared “to use all reasonable and appropriate federal government tools and emergency authorities to increase refinery capacity and output in the near term, and to ensure that every region of this country is appropriately supplied.”
In the Biden’s lashing at the oil refiners, he singled out Exxon for not investing enough in new production.
“Why aren’t they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil,” he said. “Exxon, start investing and start paying your taxes,” Biden had said.
The President he would make sure everyone knew how much Exxon was profiting, hinting that “Exxon made more money than God last year.”
But Exxon got back yesterday, insisting that the company indeed had been “investing more than it has been earning in the past five years, with the level of investments in new oil and gas supply double the level of profits.”
Exxon also said it has been in regular contact with the administration to update the President and his staff on how ExxonMobil has been investing more than any other company to develop U.S. oil and gas supplies.
“This includes investments in the U.S. of more than $50billion over the past five years, resulting in an almost 50% increase in our U.S. production of oil during this period,” Exxon said.
The company’s 2021 profit stood at $23billion, which was a year earlier preceded by a loss of $22.4billion, which Exxon also noted in its statement, saying; “We kept investing even during the pandemic, when we lost more than $20billion and had to borrow more than $30billion to maintain investment to increase [refining] capacity to be ready for post- pandemic demand.”
Observers say the oil industry has become a major target for both the White House and Congress in the blame game for record-high retail fuel prices.
Accusations of price-gouging and deliberately staying away from new well drilling have abounded in the past few weeks. The industry, however, has not budged.
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