That’s what US President Joe Biden said on June 10 in White House briefing room remarks on inflation and actions taken to lower prices and address supply chain challenges.
In the statement Biden said: “We’re going to make sure that everybody knows Exxon’s profits,” adding: “Exxon made more money than God this year.
“One thing I want to say about the oil companies, they talk about how we have, they have 9,000 permits to drill. They’re not drilling. Why aren’t they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil.
“The price goes up, number one. And, number two, the reason they’re not drilling is they’re buying back their own stock – which should be taxed, quite frankly – buying back their own stock and making no new investments. So, I – I always thought Republicans are for investment. Exxon, start investing, start paying your taxes,” Biden went on to say.
When ExxonMobil was contacted for comment on the president’s statement, a company spokesperson sent through the following response via email:
“We have been in regular contact with the administration, informing them of our planned investments to increase production and expand refining capacity in the United States.
“We increased production in the Permian Basin by 70 percent, or 190,000 barrels per day, between 2019 and 2021. We expect to increase production from the Permian by another 25 percent this year. We’re spending 50 percent more in capital expenditures in the Permian in 2022 vs 2021 and are increasing refining capacity to process US light crude by about 250,000 barrels per day – which is the equivalent of adding a new medium sized refinery.
“We reported losses of more than $20 billion in 2020, and we borrowed more than $30 billion in 2019 and 2020 to support our investments in production around the world. In 2021, total taxes on the company’s income statement were $40.6 billion, an increase of $17.8 billion from 2020.”
Industry body the American Petroleum Institute (API) was also contacted for comment on Biden’s remarks. Frank Macchiarola, API’s senior vice president of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs, said: “the American people are looking for solutions, not finger pointing.
“The price at the pump that Americans are currently paying is a function of increased demand and lagging supply combined with the geopolitical turmoil resulting from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“Lawmakers should focus on rational policies that increase US supply to help mitigate the situation rather than political grandstanding that does nothing but discourage investment at a time when it’s needed the most.”
Back in April, ExxonMobil Corporation announced estimated first quarter 2022 earnings of $5.5 billion, or $1.28 per share assuming dilution. First-quarter results included an unfavorable identified item of $3.4 billion associated with the company’s planned exit from Russia Sakhalin-1, or $0.79 per share assuming dilution. In the first quarter of 2021, ExxonMobil reported earnings of $2.7 billion.
Darren Woods, the chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, in a company statement in April said: “The quarter illustrated the strength of our underlying business and significant progress in further developing our competitively advantaged production portfolio.
“Earnings increased modestly, as strong margin improvement and underlying growth was offset by weather and timing impacts. The absence of these temporary impacts in March provides strong, positive momentum for the second quarter,” he added in the statement.
For more information visit corporate.exxonmobil.com
