<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655294833253,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000172-336d-d668-a372-3bef83ff0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655294833253,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000172-336d-d668-a372-3bef83ff0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55294706", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1030146"} }); ","_id":"00000181-6742-ddb6-a5eb-6f73a54e0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedPresident Joe Biden criticized oil refiners in the United States for earning large profits and pressed them to do more to expand capacity to help bring down record gasoline prices.
Biden sent letters to seven large integrated refinery operators, including ExxonMobil and BP, that recognized a shortage of refinery capacity is helping drive the price surge but said the profits that companies are making are “not acceptable.” He also said he was prepared to use emergency powers to increase refinery capacity.
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The letters, made public on Wednesday, are the latest instances of Biden blaming the oil and gas industry for the high prices, which have helped drive down his approval ratings and undercut support for his agenda. At the same time, the administration has tried to cajole the industry to increase production. Many drillers and others in the sector have blamed his regulatory agenda for crimping output.
The war in Ukraine, as well as “the bipartisan and global effort to counter it, has disrupted the global supply of oil and driven up the global price,” Biden told refiners.
But, he said, “The sharp rise in gasoline prices is not driven only by rising oil prices, but by an unprecedented disconnect between the price of oil and the price of gas.”
Biden recognized the shortage of refining capacity, which has fallen by around 3 million barrels globally and over 1 million barrels in the U.S. in the last few years, and he said he is working with global partners to bring capacity back online while pressing refiners to do more.
He also said refiners should bring more diesel fuel, gasoline, and other refined products to market to help with prices.
“With prices for your product where they are today, you have ample market incentive to take these actions, and I recognize that some of you have already begun to do so,” he said.
Refiners and others in the oil industry have argued that high prices are a function of higher demand coming out of the worst of the coronavirus pandemic coupled with the lower capacity to refine crude oil into gasoline, diesel fuel, and other products.
Refiners have been operating at over 90% of operable capacity in recent months and were at 94.2% of their operable capacity for the week ending June 8, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Gasoline demand is also up compared to when the war in Ukraine began.
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Biden’s letter noted that the last time oil was $120 per barrel, shortly after Russia’s invasion, gas was averaging $4.25 per gallon. It’s now above $5. Demand for gasoline is now up by several hundred thousand barrels per day compared with March.
Biden also said in the letter that he directed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to convene a meeting of the National Petroleum Council to talk over solutions to the refining shortage.
