« It has price-gouged consumers in plain sight and it’s going to get away with it, » consumer advocate says.
Chevron announced Friday that it brought in a record-shattering $35.5 billion in profits in 2022, a sum that campaigners said highlights just how much the company benefited from global energy market chaos spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
« What Big Oil has done over the last year is the definition of war profiteering, » said Jamie Henn, a spokesperson for the Stop The Oil Profiteering (STOP) campaign. « After working with Russia for decades, companies like Chevron have used the war in Ukraine as cover to jack up prices and suck billions directly out of the pocket of American families. »
« Big Oil is rolling in cash while families are struggling to heat their homes or fill their gas tanks, » Henn added. « Congress could provide people with immediate relief by returning some of the money Big Oil has pulled from our pockets over the last year. If Chevron has $75 billion to lavish on its wealthy shareholders and CEO, then it can certainly afford a windfall profits tax to provide much-needed relief to hard-working Americans. »
Henn was referring to the massive stock buyback program that Chevron announced earlier this week, making clear the company’s plan to reward shareholders with its 2022 windfall—which Chevron CEO Mike Wirth has defended as a « modest return.
