Business

Governor Convenes Session to Hold Oil Industry Accountable for Price Gouging

SACRAMENTO — As oil companies continue to evade questions about unexplained gas price increases, Gov, Gavin Newsom Nov. 30 convened a special session of the California Legislature on Dec. 5 to pass a price gouging penalty on oil companies that will keep money in Californians’ pockets.

The Governor’s action comes on the heels of a state hearing yesterday — which five major oil refiners refused to attend — to investigate this fall’s unprecedented spike in gasoline prices that resulted in record refiner profits of $63 billion in just 90 days, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income families.

This fall’s spike occurred while crude oil prices dropped, state taxes and fees remained unchanged and gas prices did not increase outside the western U.S., so the high prices went straight to the industry’s bottom line.

The text of the Governor’s proclamation convening a special session can be found here.

During the special session, the Legislature will also consider efforts to empower state agencies to more closely review gas costs, profits and pricing as well provide the state with greater regulatory oversight of the refining, distribution and retailing segments of the gasoline market in California.

In the third quarter of 2022, from July to September, oil companies reported record high profits:

Phillips 66 profits jumped to $5.4 billion, a 1243% increase over last year’s $402 million;
BP posted $8.2 billion in profits, its second-highest on record, with $2.5 billion going toward share buybacks that benefit Wall Street investors;
Marathon Petroleum profits rose to $4.48 billion, a 545% increase over last year’s $694 million;
Valero’s $2.82 billion in profits that were 500% higher than the year before;
PBF Energy’s $1.06 billion that was 1700% higher than the year before;
Shell reported a $9.45 billion haul that sent $4 billion to shareholders for stock buybacks;
Exxon reported their highest-ever $19.7 billion in profits;
Chevron reported $11.2 billion in profits, their second-highest quarterly profit ever.