A new report shows that executives of major oil and gas companies have been making huge cash while their stock prices soar as the public pays sky-high gas prices at home.
Food and Water Watch has found that company stocks held by CEOs of eight large fossil fuel companies have increased in value by nearly $100 million just between January and mid-March — right around Gas prices skyrocketedAs Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine.
CEOs of ExxonMobil and Cheniere have seen the largest gains, with the stocks of Cheniere’s Jack Fusco and Exxon’s Darren Woods increasing in value by $25 million. Steven Kean is the CEO of Kinder Morgan, a major Texas oil and gas company. His company stocks have jumped by almost $15M.
Republicans You are to blame Joe Biden for high gas prices, but there’s virtually nothing that Biden can do to affect gas prices. In reality, experts say that gas prices are largely due to oil and gas companies’ market manipulation, which is motivated by a desire to Please share this with shareholders. In the past weeks, gas prices have stayed high even as crude oil prices have dropped — thanks in part to Wall Street investors’ pressure to keep stock prices high.
Gas prices have been rising steadily over the past year and stocks of large fossil fuel companies outperformed the stock markets, resulting in oil and gas companies outperforming the stock market. essentially admitted that they’re currently trying to win over shareholders. “We are working hard to win back investors,” Chevron’s chief financial officer Pierre Breber told the Financial Times in February. “This is a sector that has underperformed for 10 years, for five years, for three years.”
Oil and gas company stocks are indeed high have risen precipitouslyOver the past year, and have been making tens of billions of dollars in profits in a major upswing from 2020’s losses; in just the first nine months of 2021, top oil and gas companies Made $174 billionIn profits.
Food and Water Watch discovered that oil and gas CEOs are cashing in on these gains. ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance sold $23 million worth of stock to ConocoPhillips, while Michael Wirth, Chevron CEO, sold $14 million that month.
Meanwhile, top companies have announced stock buyback programs totalling over $25 billion in the past year — enough money to heat over 33 million people’s homes over the winter, based on the projected averageA gas bill of approximately $750
Lawmakers are responsible Legislative proposalsTo tax the profits of Big Oil that it exploits during the crisis. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D. Oregon), introduced a bill to levy a tax of 2022 income above pre-pandemic profits. The legislation then would redistribute that tax revenue back to consumers.
This is a popular idea. Polling starting Last weekIt was found that 87 per cent of voters believe that legislators should take action against profiteering companies in the oil and gas industry, while 80 per cent agree that a windfall tax would be beneficial for companies to stop price gouging.
Food and Water Watch reported that fossil fuel companies are exploiting water and food resources.Also, they aggressively seek to secure their dominanceThe invasion of Ukraine prompted a surge in energy industry. As Russia first launched its attacks, Fusco told investors that the company is going to be “opportunistic” in pursuing increases to drilling.
“This campaign to promote [liquid natural gas] in response to Ukraine is a cynical calculation by the dominant players in the industry,” the report reads. “They intend it to lock in long-term contracts that would create decades of additional fossil fuel dependence.”
