A new analysis shows that CEOs of major oil- and gas companies made millions as gas prices rose in 2021.
Compensation for Big Oil chief executives rose by nearly $45 million in 2021A new initiative will be introduced to increase the level of renewable energy by more than 50% by 2020. analysisAccountable.US shows, first reported by the Guardian. Exxon and Shell were just two of the 28 large oil and natural gas companies that gave $394 million to their CEOs in 2013.
CEOs like Marathon Petroleum’s Michael Hennigan and Exxon’s Darren Woods were exceptionally highly compensated, being paid over $20 million each while getting bonuses of $5 million and $7 million, respectively. Woods’s pay bump alone was 50 percent of his previous pay. Tracy Krohn, the CEO of W&T Offshore, an oil and fracked gas producer, made $4 million more last year — nearly three times his 2020 compensation.
On average, CEOs made $1.6million more last year than in 2020. The bonuses received by 14 CEOs totaled $31.8million.
“While the wealthy CEOs further line their pockets, Americans are left to foot the bill as they are forced to make sacrifices to cover the high prices at the pump,” the report reads.
This major increase was made during a time when gas prices rose dramatically, which corporations blamed inflation. The average price per gallonAccording to the Energy Information Administration, the 2021 average price for all grades was $3.10, which is significantly higher than the $2.69 pre-pandemic average.
However, the new data suggests that high gas prices weren’t caused solely by inflation, but also by companies seeking to pump profits and executive salaries.
“Americans will not soon forget that when they were struggling to fill their tanks, oil and gas companies made billions in record profits and decided to give that money to wealthy industry executives and shareholders rather than help consumers by stabilizing gas prices,” said Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig in a statement.
“It’s time for Big Oil to stop lying about the Biden administration’s energy policies and quit using inflation and the crisis in Ukraine to cash in and line their pockets at our expense,” Herrig continued.
While Conservatives and oil and gas industry took advantage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to call for an increase in drilling, experts say that there’s little that increasing drilling could do to affect prices currently, and that such measures would be detrimental to the climate. Gas prices have remained stable. high over the past months because the industry is paying out shareholders in spades, and Wall Street investors don’t want the high profits to stop.
Indeed, the profits have been very high. Last month, Accountable.US foundAs consumers struggle to pay the pump, 25 of the largest oil and gas companies earned a staggering $205 billion last year. Some families even had to make a living off the profits. to cut downTo save money, you can take errands on your trips. Chevron executives and Shell executives praised high prices as a positive thing for their companies.
“By the end of 2021, we had one of our most successful years ever with return on capital employed approaching 10 percent, our highest since 2014,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth saidIn an earnings call earlier in the year.
Legislators have responded to progressives’ claim that corporate price gouging is the reason, introduced windfall profits billsTo capture the high profits oil and gas companies are making, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), introduced a bill to do just that. Profit 95 percent of your windfall profitsNot only the oil and natural gas industry, but also corporations from other sectors, such as Amazon and Blackstone.
