‘Obscene’: Exxon Posts Record $56 Billion in Profits — But Keeps Gouging Consumers
CAPITALISM, 6 Feb 2023
Brett Wilkins | The Defender - TRANSCEND Media Service
1 Feb 2023 – ExxonMobil on Tuesday [31 Jan] joined other U.S. oil companies in reporting record 2022 earnings amid rising gas prices, sparking renewed calls by consumer and climate advocates for a Big Oil windfall profits tax.
As ExxonMobil on Tuesday joined other U.S. oil companies in reporting record 2022 earnings amid rising gas prices, consumer and climate advocates renewed calls for a Big Oil windfall profits tax.
Texas-based ExxonMobil posted a $55.7 billion profit last year, breaking not only its own previous company record — $45 billion in 2008 — but setting a historic high for the Western oil industry, according to Reuters.
The company’s profit is a 144% increase from 2021 and, as Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn noted, “enough money to send every person in the U.S. $178 to help offset the costs of high fossil fuel costs and gas bills.”
Marathon Petroleum — the top U.S. refiner — said Tuesday that it raked in $16.4 billion last year while approving a $5 billion stock buyback, and Phillips 66 reported $8.9 billion in adjusted 2022 profit, a 253% increase from 2021.
Tuesday’s earnings reports came just days after Chevron announced a $35.5 billion 2022 profit, a company record, and days before Shell, BP and Total are all expected to follow suit on the strength of profits related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the European energy crisis.
Exxon clearly knows that their profits are obscene and a political liability. That’s why they’re coming out so hard against a windfall profits tax. https://t.co/68OaayFheJ
— Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) January 31, 2023
Meanwhile, the average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline crept up to over $3.50 on Tuesday, with average prices by state ranging from $3.40 in Nebraska to $4.93 in Hawaii, according to the American Automobile Association.
Last year, “families across Pennsylvania paid $5 a gallon for gas while Exxon made profits that ‘smashed earnings records’ and Chevron posted ‘record earnings,” said U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), responding to recent Big Oil profit reports. “This price gouging is simply disgusting, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
Cassidy DiPaola, spokesperson for Stop the Oil Profiteering, lamented that “while we’re getting robbed at the pump, Big Oil’s obscene profits are out of control and billionaire fossil fuel CEOs are getting richer and richer.”
DiPaola continued:
“Big Oil is shattering records precisely because of the pain the public is feeling at the pump. We’re paying more for gas and electricity because Big Oil companies are gouging Americans and benefiting from a rigged system that keeps prices high in times of war and crisis. And on top of that, Big Oil CEOs are making massive bonuses and rewarding big Wall Street investors while families are having to decide between filling up their gas tanks or paying for medication and childcare.”
“Enough is enough,” she added. “It’s time to fight back against the politicians and Big Oil CEOs who put their billions before the health and safety of our families, our communities, and our climate. We need to hold them accountable now with solutions like a windfall profits tax, and invest in clean energy solutions that can free us from expensive fossil fuels.”
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Tags: Capitalism, Catastrophe Capitalism, Corruption, Disaster Capitalism, Elites, ExxonMobil, Finance, Greed, Predatory Capitalism, Profits, World Order
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