On Friday, Chevron delivered another “slap in the face” to American families, announcing a record-setting $36.5 billion annual profit for 2022 and an unprecedented $75 billion stock buyback plan designed to enrich the company’s wealthy shareholders and executives.
Chevron is the first of the Big Oil majors to announce its yearly profits. According to some analysts, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies are expected to announce yearly profits of over $190 billion in the coming days, “smashing” previous records.
Jamie Henn, a spokesperson for Stop The Oil Profiteering (STOP) released the following response:
“What Big Oil has done over the last year is the definition of war profiteering. 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’s price gouging hasn’t only hurt consumers at the pump, but driven up the cost of everything from groceries to school supplies. This ‘fossilflation’ has been the source of economic pain for hundreds of millions of Americans who are rightfully asking why they should have to suffer just so Chevron’s CEO can buy another private jet.
Big Oil is rolling in cash while families are struggling to heat their homes or fill their gas tanks. 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.”
Over the past year, STOP has helped lead the campaign in the U.S. for a Big Oil windfall profits tax that would put money back in the hands of Americans struggling with high fossil fuel prices. Over 80 members of Congress have backed some version of windfall profits tax legislation and the White House has expressed its openness to the proposal, with President Biden lambasting Big Oil’s profits as the “windfall of war.”
