Oil Industry Profits Soar As High Prices Stump U.S. Consumers

A new report by Accountable.US shows that 24 top oil and gas companies made $174 billion in profits between January and September, lining shareholders’ and CEOs’ pockets.

Photo Insert: The said manipulation means middle-and-lower-income people with few alternatives for transportation will be hurt the most by these prices, as they continue to experience high levels of hardship nearly two years into the pandemic.

Sixteen of those companies raised their dividend at least once in 2021, the report found, and most of their CEOs had compensation packages of over $10 million, Sharon Zhang reported for Truthout.

Companies like Exxon and Chevron have posted high profits in the third quarter of 2021; in just four months, the 24 companies made $74 billion in profits. Exxon alone reported making $6.9 billion in the third quarter, a 60 percent increase in revenue from the same time last year, and its highest profits for four years.

However, gas prices have hit a seven-year high during the third quarter especially, increasing by 50 percent in just a year — amounting to an average of $3.40 per gallon in the US — even as wholesale prices have gone down.

This has helped pad profits for the oil and gas companies as increased demand drives higher gas prices after pandemic restrictions have been lifted.

Critics of the oil and gas industry say that the high gas prices are by design, as oil and gas companies haven’t been replenishing fuel supplies to meet high demand. Conservative politicians have deceptively tried to blame high gas prices on President Joe Biden’s climate policies, despite the fact that the president’s climate approach has been tepid at best.

But sustainable energy groups like the International Energy Agency have said that high prices are thanks to “the deliberate policies of energy producers.”

From a climate perspective, more oil and gas production is not to be cheered — but the oil and gas industry has little incentive to shrink the fuel supply due to the climate crisis, and wouldn’t raise prices for that reason.

Instead, the industry is likely manipulating costs because gas prices typically have little effect on demand and are not likely to drive down usage. This also means that middle- and lower-income people with few alternatives for transportation will be hurt the most by these prices, as they continue to experience high levels of hardship nearly two years into the pandemic.

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