WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden, who has expressed outrage at oil companies making record profits while Americans pay high fuel prices, will make a statement on the issue at the White House on Monday, the White House said.
Biden will speak at 4:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) in response “to reports over recent days of major oil companies making record-setting profits even as they refuse to help lower prices at the pump for the American people,” the White House said in a statement.
Global energy giants including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp 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 boost taxes on the sector.
Biden, whose Democratic party is struggling to maintain control of the US Congress in midterm elections as voters fret about inflation, on Friday blasted oil companies for their steady refusal to pass profits along to consumers by lowering prices.
During a Democratic fundraiser in Philadelphia, he suggested additional actions were coming, but White House officials have declined to provide details.
Biden said six of the largest oil companies made $70 billion in profit during the last quarter, with some doubling their earnings. Exxon, for instance, reported profit of $18.7 billion in 90 days, nearly triple what it made in all of 2021, he said.
“I’m going to keep harping on it. They talk about me picking on them.
They ain’t seen nothing yet,” Biden said. “I mean it. It outrages me.” Biden said the price of gasoline would come down another 50 cents if oil companies were making the average profit seen in the past 20 years, which would take the price below $3.00 a gallon. The price of gasoline and overall high inflation are a political stumbling block for Democratic congressional candidates in the upcoming midterm elections.
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