The earnings summaries for the first three months of the year were released today. People in the U.S. were paying some of the highest-ever average prices at the pump, but the oil giants were raking it in.
In the first three months of the year, Exxon earned more than double what it earned in the same period last year. The company incurred a $3.4 billion after-tax charge to stop its operations in Russia.
In the first quarter of 2022, the company reported total earnings of $6.26 billion, compared with the first quarter of 2021. The company reported $7.2 billion in net income at the end of 2012 and that was its most profitable quarter in almost a decade.
In the first part of the year, neither company increased production. Exxon's production was down 4% from last quarter, while Chevron's production was down 40,000 barrels of oil per day. The corporations seem to be reaping the benefits of high prices. The company's domestic oil production went up by 10%, and it is looking to increase the amount of oil it pumps from the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico to 1 million barrels per day.
The current high gas prices are not due to any production issues. Oil companies suffered financially because of overspending in the 2010s. Fossil fuels were cheap and we were reliant on them. Exxon and Chevron may try to argue that they are earning new profits because they swooped in to save the day amid global conflict or that the Biden Administration is to blame for high gas prices. Neither is true.
The real cost of burning gas in our engines is environmental collapse, so gas should be expensive. Unless the U.S. makes good on its promises to meaningfully improve and expand public transit, most Americans rely on cars to get around, and high gas prices hurt the already financially vulnerable most. The question becomes: should the companies most responsible for the suffering of the people be the ones making money?
Last year, 600 gallons of oil was spilled from a refinery in California that was already one of the state's biggest polluters, thanks to the help of a lawyer who was put in prison. More than 30 years after the Exxon Valdez spill, it is still causing harm to both people and the environment. Exxon helped pay for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but instead of investing its profits into its goals, it is buying back stock and rewarding its shareholders.
If I list too many things, I might lose my chance to work in the newsroom at Chevron.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
