Oil companies pulled in record profits in 2022, as oil prices skyrocketed. Revenues for the biggest integrated European and American oil companies nearly doubled during 2021. Profits soared.
But that
has also spurred backlash from consumer advocates and political leaders.
“Oil
companies’ record profits today are not because they’re doing something new or
innovative,” President Joe Biden said Oct. 31. “Their profits are a windfall of
war — the windfall from the brutal conflict that’s ravaging Ukraine and hurting
tens of millions of people around the globe.”
The
industry has said the depiction of oil companies as greedy war profiteers is
false.
“You
continue to hear this administration talk about the need for more supply, but
they propose windfall profits, taxes or price gouging, or they lock up federal
lands for oil and gas development,” said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice
president of policy, economics, and regulatory affairs at the American
Petroleum Institute. “They talk about the need for permitting reform and more
infrastructure, but then they turn around and cancel pipeline projects.”
And
while oil companies raked in cash in 2022, their fates are closely tied to the
price of oil — when it falls, they lose. They are also bracing for a world
where the demand for oil is expected to decline. They are predicting that
decline themselves.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/03/oil-companies-bring-in-200-billion-in-profits-in-2022.html