On Wednesday, Exxon Mobil ripped back into President Joe Biden in a letter after the White House blamed oil companies in a press conference for causing the massive rise in fuel costs and inflation.
He said that the companies need to “work with my administration to bring forward concrete, near-term solutions that address the crisis.”
Earlier in the week, Biden also said that Exxon Mobil “made more money than God.”
Exxon Mobil hit right back at the White House and said that it’s not them but the administration’s failing energy policies that are causing the rising price in a recent press release.
“In the short term, the U.S. government could enact measures often used in emergencies following hurricanes or other supply disruptions – such as waivers of Jones Act provisions and some fuel specifications to increase supplies,” reads their statement.
”Longer term, government can promote investment through clear and consistent policy that supports U.S. resource development, such as regular and predictable lease sales, as well as streamlined regulatory approval and support for infrastructure such as pipelines.”
This follows a statement from White House Press Secretary Jean-Pierre who said that it was the gas companies’ “patriotic duty” to lower gas prices.
They are talking about Biden shutting down US oil and gas pipelines on his first day in office, which dramatically limited the production of oil in the country.
”We have been in regular contact with the administration to update the president and his staff on how ExxonMobil has been investing more than any other company to develop U.S. oil and gas supplies,” the company’s release began. ”This includes investments in the U.S. of more than $50 billion over the past five years, resulting in an almost 50% increase in our U.S. production of oil during this period.”
”Globally, we’ve invested double what we’ve earned over the past five years – $118 billion on new oil and gas supplies compared to net income of $55 billion. This is a reflection of the company’s long-term growth strategy, and our commitment to continuously invest to meet society’s demand for our products.”
The oil company then went on to attack President Biden over his claim that they are making record profits.
”Specific to refining capacity in the U.S., we’ve been investing through the downturn to increase refining capacity to process U.S. light crude by about 250,000 barrels per day – the equivalent of adding a new medium-sized refinery,” Exxon Mobil said. ”We kept investing even during the pandemic, when we lost more than $20 billion and had to borrow more than $30 billion to maintain investment to increase capacity to be ready for post-pandemic demand.”
Exxon Mobil did record double the profits this year to $5.5 billion for their first quarter compared to the same quarter in 2021. This is the number that Biden and his administration is referring to. It’s not a completely true statistic, though. They are selectively comparing profits from a very down year for Exxon Mobil. The company usually records what they did this quarter in regular, non-pandemic years.
It’s becoming more and more obvious that the Biden administration is trying to shift blame for their handling of gas prices. The White House has the ability to bring down prices, but they are choosing not to. We will never forget that his first day in office he cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline. Do you blame Biden or the gas companies for the high prices?
