Democrat Joe Biden’s administration, which accuses US refineries of making high profits at the expense of drivers who pay dearly for gasoline, met with industry leaders on Thursday (23rd) to discuss ways to reduce the high fuel price.
The rise in tariffs at gas stations, a symbol of the overall rise in prices in the United States, has eroded the popularity of the president, who for weeks has been trying to find solutions to lower the cost of a gallon (3.78 liters) of gasoline.
Biden has repeatedly urged refineries to increase their production capacity, at a time when the gallon was at an all-time high of $5.
“We will have a serious conversation with them to see what we can achieve,” Energy Minister Jennifer Granholm said on Wednesday. said.
“We know that six refineries have been closed since 2020… And we would like to ask if it is possible to run some of them, increase production,” he added.
These groups “make big profits. So it’s not about financing investments,” Granholm said. “Maybe they need something else?” he asked himself.
Chevron, Phillips66, BP and the powerful oil industry federation API confirmed their presence at this meeting.
Joe Biden also included ExxonMobil, Marathon, Valero and Shell in a letter last week urging refineries to take “urgent” steps to increase production of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
It is “unacceptable,” the president began, to make “historically high” profit margins by making the Americans pay for it.
In response to AFPM, the association that brings together API and refineries, American refineries are operating at a very high level, with 94% of their capacity. The companies argued that prices are set globally. And some facilities were closed to be converted into biofuel production facilities.
Chevron chairman Michael Wirth on Tuesday scolded the chairman for “disgracing” the industry. Joe Biden responded hours later saying he was “a little sensitive”.
high margins
Andrew Lebow, an energy industry expert at expert consultancy Commodity Research Group, says the meeting “probably won’t reveal anything substantial.”
“If refiners could produce more today, they would do so, seeing the high margins they could get,” he said. Perhaps production will accelerate a bit in the coming weeks, once some operational issues are resolved at their facility, he added.
For ClearView’s Kevin Book, there might be more of a “meeting tone” that could have an impact. “Speaking calmly with the industry will allow the barrels to open more easily than constantly attacking them in public,” he says.
The government can help, for example, by facilitating the hiring of truck drivers and the supply of sand for shale oil exploration, he said. But if the meeting ends badly, the stalemate could get worse,” he adds.
Oil prices were initially supported by the sharp increase in demand following the Covid-19 pandemic and later by sanctions against Russia after Western powers invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24.
To keep prices down at gas stations, Joe Biden asked Congress on Wednesday to suspend the federal gas tax of 18 cents a gallon for three months. the price during the peak consumption season.
source: Noticias
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