July 31, 2022
Last month I had an op.ed on high gas prices: “Blame Big Oil, now laughing all the way to the bank”
That was based on first quarter data in 2022.
Second quarter profits for the oil companies again show record breaking profits.
The review by the watchdog group Accountable.US revealed that from April through June, Chevron, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Hess Corp, Phillips 66, Shell, and TechnipFMC “saw their profits skyrocket from the same time period last year, with income shooting up 235%.”
ExxonMobil scored $17.9 billion in profits and Chevron $11.6 billion in the second quarter.
And again, these multinational companies did what the always do with windfalls from profits or the federal government cutting their taxes by 40% (December, 2017). They buy back their own stocks to drive up the price of each share thus increasing the wealth of their shareholders and corporate execs.
“While you were feeling pain at the pump, Shell, Exxon and Chevron raked in $46 billion in profits over the last three months and said they would spend up to $47 billion on stock buybacks after spending $18.8 billion so far this year.”- Public Citizen
The oil companies are still laughing all the way to the bank.
Frank Knapp
President & CEO