He accuses them of having “worsen” the suffering that Vladimir Putin has caused in the American people with “historic profit margins in the refineries” unusually high
There is no campaign in the world that can defend itself from the bombardment of advertisements about inflation that gas station posters represent in the United States. One after another they rise up conspicuously on the edge of the road reminding drivers that under the mandate of Joe Biden prices have skyrocketed.
“The covid has gone down, but gasoline has gone up,” the president himself acknowledged on Tuesday in a speech to the unions. All of his efforts to manage the pain of the pandemic may have had a boomerang effect on the economy by triggering inflation, according to some economists. Others blame the war in Ukraine and the greed of the energy sector. The White House appears to be among the latter.
This Wednesday the Associated Press agency released a letter that the president has sent to the seven major oil companies in the country. In it he accuses them of having “worsen” the suffering that Vladimir Putin has caused the American people with “historic profit margins in the refineries” unusually high. If because of that greed inflation has broken the record of the last 40 years, the president is willing to put a stop to it.
In the letter he warns them that he is willing to invoke emergency powers “and all measures that are reasonably appropriate” to increase the production and extraction capacity of refineries in the short term and ensure that each region of the country is adequately supplied. . “Your companies have the opportunity to take immediate measures to increase the flow of gasoline, diesel and other refined products that you are producing,” he reproaches them.
The recipients – Chevron, BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Valero Energy Corp and Marathom Petroleum Corp – have not yet responded. The president’s order is clear: “Your companies have to work with my government to present concrete short-term solutions to face this crisis.”
As proof, the president reminds them that the price of a gallon last March was $4.25 dollars, when a barrel of oil was $120 dollars. This Wednesday, with a barrel at $119, the national average for gasoline rose to $5,016 per gallon, according to AAA data. That difference reflects, according to the president’s accounts, the shortage caused by the work at half gas in the refineries and the profit margins “highest ever recorded.”
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents US industry, has struck back, blaming the energy policies of the Biden administration which, as part of its fight against climate change, is trying to move away from fossil fuels and push electric vehicles and renewable energy. These “wrong” policies force gas emissions to be reduced, but they have also made the industry think that it is time to maximize profits, because in the next decade society may not be so interested in what its wells store.