Why Big Oil’s Record Profits Sparked A Backlash

As oil prices skyrocketed, companies such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, TotalEnergies and BP more than doubled their profits in 2022 from the year-earlier period. That result spurred a backlash, though, with President Joe Biden calling the profits “a windfall of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.” He also criticized Big Oil for investing too little in domestic production. But industry officials countered, saying they found Biden’s message to be a paradox. On the one hand he was advocating for a move toward a society of lower carbon emissions while on the other hand he wanted oil companies to increase production.

Chapters:
00:49 — Chapter 1: A volatile year
02:23 — Chapter 2: Record breaking profits
03:00 — Chapter 3: Backlash and what that means
05:06 — Chapter 4: The industry
08:16 — Chapter 5: Future

Produced by: Robert Ferris
Editor: Nic Golden Henry
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Graphics: Alex Wood

About CNBC: From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.

Connect with CNBC News Online

#CNBC

Why Big Oil’s Record Profits Sparked A Backlash

[JayDizzle]

idk maybe it was charging double for gas while trying to pretend there was some shortage

[nigratruo]

Using war as an excuse to then raise prices without a valid reason and the ripping off customers then results in record profits. Finding excuses to raise prices, blaming the excuse is what oil companies do best.

[williamdrijver]

Odd how the collapsed natural gas prices do not seem to influence the price of oil stocks?

[steven]

Bought a Chevy Bolt. Cheap to buy, cheap to run. It meets my needs. Don't miss going to gas stations.

[SickPrid]

those who are even remotely into market will notice that when oil price rises the price for fuels rises with it, but when the oil prices fall, the fuel prices decrease after few weeks

[thepeff]

"Don't worry baby, I'm doing this for us." -Every abusive SO plus fossil fuel companies for "unrelated" reasons

[mistamaog]

What these oil companies didn't realize is they pushed a lot of people to hybrids and evs with their ridiculous pricing. Now it's all calmed out but damage was definitely done.
Now we just gotta hope that food prices stop getting out of control

[CarlosRodriguez-hbvq]

Until charging infrastructure and retail electricity prices improve, I think a hybrid or PHEV makes the most sense. My car, a Honda Clarity, gets 50mpg on gas and will go 50 miles on battery. That gives me options and flexibility. Bought it used for half the price of a Tesla

[chrxx]

Wow they totally glossed over how the price of a barrel of oil is set. In fact the whole discussion on how they were so profitable made no common sense. Russian increased sales to China and India at a hefty discount, and that some how that raised the price of a barrel of oil in the us? It should have the opposite effect. Why would US oil charge more for oil to compete with lower oil prices globally. Remember the oil companies set the price of oil.... What they did is increase the price of oil and blame it on lack of supply from Russian...

[ronkirk]

When demand plummeted by about 50% during the pandemic, oil companies shutdown about half of their old, less efficient refineries which pushed up prices when demand surged again. With very high prices, they had very little incentive to increase refining capacity. The EU has the right idea with a windfall tax.

[jamesmaduabuchi]

There might be an economical turmoil but there is no doubt that this is still the best time to invest.

[raycosman]

Oil isn’t the only ones making excessive profits.

[jonathangeorge]

I love how oil production has been at an all time high and also oil lobbyists blame biden for being too pro green energy...🤷🏻‍♂️

[andrewwhitcomb]

Excellent video, explaining all the nuances.

[wei]

Sickening. Rich keeps getting richer because they have politicians in their pocket due to re election. Meanwhile rest of us Americans are having trouble just to feed our family.

[michaelthompson]

It's outrageous what these companies get away with.

[Slugbunny]

Wasn't politics, wasn't even geopolitics, just good old monopolies exercising corporate greed.

[ASH]

Oil & gas changed the world 🌐
Don't blame those Historic Company's 🛢⛽🛢

[amazon]

😅 and people didn't realize it also caused our products prices to rise too...

Stop reliance on oil...

Diversified energy.

[MrSixthcircle]

how much did exxon pay for this piece?