Biden blasts oil companies over high gasoline prices

US president Joe Biden today blasted oil and gas companies over "significant profits off higher energy prices" as he again asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate if there is any price manipulation in gasoline markets.

"The two largest oil and gas companies in the US, as measured by market capitalization, are on track to nearly double their net income over 2019, the last full year before the pandemic" and are spending the profits on stock buybacks and dividends, Biden wrote in a letter to FTC chairman Lina Khan. "I do not accept hard-working Americans paying more for gas because of anti-competitive or otherwise potentially illegal conduct."

The White House asked FTC, the US government's primary anti-trust regulator, in July to investigate if there was any manipulation in oil and gasoline markets, citing a divergent trend in crude and gasoline prices. To date, the commission's response has been to direct staff to increase oversight of mergers in the energy industry. But Biden said the FTC should act immediately to review "mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies."

By Haik Gugarats