White House slams Exxon for historic $56 billion annual profit

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) – The White House on Tuesday expressed outrage at Exxon Mobil Corp’s record 2022 net profit of $56 billion, an all-time high not just for the company but for the entire western oil industry.

The oil majors are expected to beat their own annual records due to high prices and rising demand, bringing their combined take to nearly $200 billion. The scale has sparked fresh criticism of the oil industry and sparked calls for more countries to levy taxes on windfall corporate profits.

A White House statement said Exxon’s profit margin was particularly infuriating as Americans paid record prices at the pumps. He criticized attempts by Republicans in the House of Representatives to promote policies aimed at supporting the oil industry.

“The latest earnings reports make it clear that oil companies have everything they need, including record profits and thousands of unused but approved permits, to increase production, but they are instead choosing to spend those profits filling the pockets of executives and shareholders while House Republicans manufacture excuse after excuse to shield them from accountability,” the White House said.

President Joe Biden has lambasted oil companies and refiners for much of the last year for taking advantage of increased profits as gasoline prices soared. In June, Biden wrote to executives of major oil refiners and complained about cutting production to boost profits, according to a copy of a letter seen by Reuters.

Exxon Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells responded to growing criticism of the industry’s windfall profits and suggested the answer was not a tax hike.

“We’re looking at the EU energy sector tax, and you know, it’s just an illegal, bad policy trying to tax something, when what you really need is for it to increase “, said Mikells. “It has the opposite effect of what you’re trying to accomplish.”Reporting by Trevor Hunnicut and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Sabrina Valle; Editing by Franklin Paul and David Gregorio

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