The White House continues to go after oil refineries, pointing out that they a patriotic duty to stop “taking advantage of the war,” as profits continue to rise with the prices.
US President Joe Biden earlier wrote to seven large integrated refinery operators and called their profits “not acceptable” and threatened to use emergency powers to push refinery capacity, in an effort to lower gas prices.
On Wednesday afternoon, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that they see increasing refinery capacity as “a patriotic duty.”
“There’s a war happening right now in Ukraine that was caused by Russia, which is why we’re seeing these hikes in gas prices, especially since Russia has started amassing troops on the border, we’ve seen a $2 increase in gas prices,” she said. “What they have been doing is taking advantage of the war. As I showed earlier, they have tripled their income.”
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As the White House continues to put pressure on the oil industry, refiners have maintained that the high prices are a result of an increase in demand coming from the pandemic-induced slowdown combined with the decreased capacity to refine crude oil into fuel.
“But what we’re trying to do — by putting out the letter, we’re saying, ‘Hey, we need you to act. It is time to act.’ We want to have a conversation.“ Jean-Pierre added. “We want to come to a solution. There is going to be a conversation later this week, I believe, with the Energy Department. And so that’s going to happen.”
The American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday responded to President Biden’s letters, calling the White House’s actions “misguided” and instead suggested “ten meaningful policy actions to ultimately alleviate pain at the pump and strengthen national security, including approving critical energy infrastructure, increasing access to capital, holding energy lease sales, among other urgent priorities.”
Records also show an already increasing local supply.
Information for this briefing was found via Whitehouse.gov, API.org and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
