White House blasts Big Oil stock buybacks again as Chevron profits
double
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 [January 28, 2023] By
Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday launched a fresh attack
against U.S. oil companies, accusing them of using profits to pay
shareholders instead of boosting supply, after Chevron Corp said its
annual profit doubled for 2022.
Chevron posted a record $36.5 billion profit for 2022 that was more than
double year-earlier earnings, kicking off what analysts expect to be a
bumper earnings season for global energy suppliers.
Earlier this week, Chevron said it would triple its spending on share
repurchases to $75 billion over five years at current guidance. Other
oil companies are expected to follow suit.
"Companies clearly have everything they need – record profits and
thousands of approved permits – to increase production," White House
spokesperson Abdullah Hasan said in a statement.
"The only thing getting in the way is their own decision to keep plowing
windfall profits into the pockets of executives and shareholders instead
of using them to boost supply."
Under former President Donald Trump, Congress passed big, retroactive
tax breaks for Big Oil, as fuel demand dropped during COVID lockdowns.
After oil prices soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, European
governments imposed windfall taxes on their oil industries, but U.S.
lawmakers are unlikely to do the same.
Chevron and Exxon Mobil - the nation's two largest oil producers - are
poised to post record annual profits for 2022 of nearly $100 billion
combined, analysts forecast.
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Gas prices are advertised at a Chevron
station as rising inflation and oil costs affect the consumers in
Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Chevron did not immediately respond to a request from comment, Exxon
declined to comment.
Hasan's comments mark the latest set of attacks from the White House
lambasting oil companies for funneling a windfall of profits to
investors. President Joe Biden's administration tried several times
last year without success to convince oil companies to boost output
as gasoline prices rose, and Biden ultimately decided to tap the
U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
Last week, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Biden will veto a
bill by U.S. House of Representatives Republicans that limits the
president's authority to tap the oil reserves if it passes Congress.
U.S. oil producers overall are increasing their budgets for new
energy projects this year, but the expenditures will be dwarfed by
the amounts paid to shareholders.
The energy industry last year was one of the top sectors in the S&P
500 index after trailing the broader market for years.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw in Washington;
Editing by Heather Timmons and David Gregorio)
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