We suckers are seeing increased gas prices….
The cost of a barrel of oil has dropped….
Oil companies are smiling their asses off making MONEY $$$ in the BILLIONS…
This isn’t helping President Biden and Democrats , even if they can’t really do much about it….
Exxon Mobil’s quarterly profits surpassed the second quarter’s $17.9 billion, beating analyst projections by about $4 billion. The company said on an earnings call that its profits were boosted by record levels of Permian Basin oil and gas production, close to 560,000 barrels per day.
Shell, meanwhile, announced profits of $9.5 billion for the quarter the previous day. Chevron also beat expectations, raking in $11.2 billion in the third quarter, also its second-highest quarter ever.
Exxon has been able to offset whipsawing oil prices largely through liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. LNG demand has surged in Europe after the EU ended imports from Russia. As a result, companies in the U.S. have seized the opportunity .
The news of soaring profits comes after criticism from Democrats, including President Biden, that companies are fleecing consumers at the pump.
These latest earnings are likely to intensify Democratic criticism with the 2022 midterms mere weeks away.
The president’s actual leverage against the companies is limited…
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Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, called for a windfall profits tax on big oil companies during the summer, when consumer gas prices hit all-time highs.
“Not in a legal definition, but in most people’s minds, what’s happening with refined products, profits and margins probably qualifies as a windfall,” Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, told The Hill in an interview.
“The optics are pretty bad,” Kloza added. “Record profits … aren’t exactly being cheered by a population that says, hey, we need a break from inflation.”
Moreover, he said, “if you were to have a virtual map of what’s occurred so far in the month of October, which is outside the realm of the third quarter profits, the numbers aren’t just off the charts, they’re off the wall the charts are on.”
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, argued that much of the actual consumer prices are outside oil companies’ control.
“They can decide to raise production or not, and if they raise production that lowers prices, but for now, oil company profits are a sign of the imbalances that exist in oil markets,” he said. “That is, everyone wants oil and refined products and there’s simply not enough to go around.” …