After firing off a series of threatening letters to America’s top oil CEOs, Biden had to expect the response wouldn’t be pretty; the American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel & Petrochemical, Chevron, and Exxon have responded.
“Refiners do not make multi-billion-dollar investments based on short-term returns,” the American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical wrote in the joint letter to Biden. “They look at long-term supply and demand fundamentals and make investments as appropriate. To that end, following on your campaign promise to ‘end fossil fuel,’ consider just some of the policy and investment signals being sent by various federal agencies and allied state governments to the market about our refining industry.”
“The timing and reasons for shutdowns of several refineries, including the Philadelphia Energy Solutions and Shell Convent refineries, were primarily due to lack of buyers willing to continue operating the facilities as petroleum refineries given growing rhetoric about the long-term viability of the industry,” the letter continued.
Other companies responded, insisting Biden’s claims about “historic profits” might not be the reality.
“Specific to refining capacity in the U.S., we’ve been investing through the downturn to increase refining capacity to process U.S. light crude by about 250,000 barrels per day – the equivalent of adding a new medium-sized refinery,” ExxonMobil said in a statement shared with The Daily Caller News Foundation. “We kept investing even during the pandemic, when we lost more than $20 billion and had to borrow more than $30 billion to maintain investment to increase capacity to be ready for post-pandemic demand.”
“Longer term, government can promote investment through clear and consistent policy that supports U.S. resource development, such as regular and predictable lease sales, as well as streamlined regulatory approval and support for infrastructure such as pipelines,” the company’s statement continued.
Chevron responded as well.
“Chevron is committed to the supply of affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy in the United States and across the globe,” Chevron spokesperson Bill Turenne told TheDCNF. “We understand the significant concerns around higher fuel prices currently faced by consumers around the country, and the world. We share these concerns, and expect the Administration’s approach to energy policy will start to better reflect the importance of addressing them.”
“Unfortunately, what we have seen since January 2021 are policies that send a message that the Administration aims to impose obstacles to our industry delivering energy resources the world needs,” he added. “All of Chevron’s U.S. refineries are operational and our refinery input grew to 915,000 [barrels per day] on average in the first quarter from 881,000 in the same quarter a year before.”
Earlier this week, Biden blasted oil CEOs in a series of letters, saying “[a]t a time of war – historically high refinery profit margins being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable,” the president said to oil companies including Exxon Mobil and Chevron. ″[C]ompanies must take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel, and other refined product,” the letter added.
CORRECT: “What we have seen since January 2021 are policies that send a message that the Administration aims to impose obstacles to our industry delivering energy resources the world needs,” Chevron spokesperson https://t.co/tsQKnyEphA via @dailycaller
— Ted Abram (@TedAbram1) June 16, 2022
Thank you for visiting 
