WASHINGTON – Democrats in the House of Representatives summoned the executives of three oil companies this Friday to explain, at a hearing on April 5, the high prices of gasoline in the United States.
The office of Representative Raúl Grijalva, Democrat from Arizona and chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, indicated that the subpoena includes executives from EOG Resources, Devon Energy Corporation and Occidental Petroleum.
For his part, Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has called a hearing with oil company executives to discuss gasoline prices.
Last Wednesday, the head of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, of New York, said that “actually oil prices have been going down but the price of gasoline at the station has not gone down”.
“E he oppressing growth in gasoline prices threatens the wallets of Latinos in the United States more and more,” said a press release from Grijalva’s office.
At the hearing, the statement added , the three executives are expected to give an account of “their use of the current inflation crisis to generate profits, a practice evidenced in recent calls in which executives have boasted of their record profits.”
The average price of gasoline in the United States is $1.12 dollars per liter ($4.26 dollars per gallon) compared to 26 cents per liter ($2.85 dollars per gallon a year ago.
These are the highest prices since March of 2012 consumers paid an average of $1.03 dollars per liter ($3.90 dollars per gallon) of gasoline.
The statement of the Grijalva’s office maintained that “the overwhelming prices of gasoline generate profits in record amounts for oil companies.”
High fossil fuel costs have been linked to market uncertainties due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but as early as February and before that invasion , Exxon Mobil reported earnings for $23,000 million dollars in 2021, the largest since 2014.
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