California oil companies responsible for gas price hikes and record profits are holding a hearing to get answers

CEC is holding a hearing with oil executives and experts on November 29th

The oil industry made $63 billion in profits in 90 days as Californians paid record gas prices

Gov. Newsom has proposed a price-cutting penalty that will put unexpected oil company gains back into the pockets of Californians

SACRAMENTO — Oil companies have billed Californians record prices for gasoline even as crude oil prices have fallen, resulting in record profits for the oil industry over the past three months. The California Energy Commission (CEC) today announced a public hearing for November 29 to bring in oil sector executives and experts to provide answers on gasoline price increases amid record profits, refinery expectations and how to prevent such price increases in the future be able.

“We are taking action to get answers for Californians who have paid for these record gains from gas price hikes. They were given the opportunity to provide written answers, but Big Oil dodged it and flatly refused to answer basic questions. This hearing will help find answers to gas price hikes and help us make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

Governor Newsom spoke of those record gains as Californians paid for price hikes at the pump.

This upcoming hearing follows the CEC, which has requested written answers to questions about price spikes despite falling crude prices — questions the companies, for the most part, have not responded to in writing.

In the third quarter of 2022, July through September, oil companies reported record earnings:

This follows a report showing that refiners like PBF Energy are making more profits with Californians than any other state — $0.78 per gallon compared to the national average of $0.50, a difference of 56%. According to Consumer Watchdog, “PBF reported that it made 78 cents a gallon in California in the third quarter from refining crude oil into gasoline — the largest crude gains of any nation or world.” In contrast, PBF’s profit per gallon was 48 cents per gallon on the Gulf Coast, 49 cents per gallon on the East Coast, 55 cents per gallon in the Midwest — an average of 50 cents in the rest of America.”

Big Oil made these record gains at a time when Californians were seeing gas price hikes at the pump even as crude oil prices had fallen:

Gov. Newsom has taken action to lower prices at the pump by mandating the switch to winter blend gasoline and holding oil companies and refiners operating in California accountable, resulting in record consumer relief at the pump. Since California’s record high gas prices of $6.42, the governor’s actions last brought those prices down to $5.47 — down 95 cents.

Comments are closed.