Oil executives defended themselves in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday from charges by lawmakers that they are gouging Americans with high fuel prices.
Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations are holding the hearing to grill companies on why gasoline prices remain elevated even though prices for crude oil, the feedstock for fuels, have dropped.
U.S. gasoline prices surged after Russia invaded Ukraine and Western countries slapped sanctions on Moscow’s energy exports.
Pump prices hit a record before inflation adjustments of $4.33 a gallon on March 11, and since then have slipped about 4% to $4.17 a gallon on Wednesday, according to the AAA motorist group.
International crude prices have dropped far more steeply, from a peak of more than $139 per barrel in early March to about $107 on Tuesday, a fall of 23%, and unfinished gasoline futures are down about 15%. (GRAPHIC: Retail-wholesale gap)
“These prices are constraining our constituents’ budgets and patience,” U.S. Representative Diana DeGette, a Democrat and chair of the subcommittee, said at the start of the hearing.
Executives from Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Chevron (XOM.N), BP America (BP.L), Shell USA , Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N) and Pioneer Natural Resources Co (PXD.N)testified.
DeGette questioned the billions of dollars in profits earned by companies present at the hearing, and cited $30 billion in taxpayer subsidies they receive as a reason they should help lower gasoline prices.
Political | Process 
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