President Trump has taken to Truth Social to lambast Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, blaming oil companies for gasoline prices, which remain above $4 a gallon.
Reacting to Wirth’s appearance on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo, Trump said the CEO hadn’t credited his administration for the oil industry’s good fortunes. He went on to say that Chevron is back in Venezuela “expecting to make a fortune” and called on it and oil companies to bring “consumer (retail!) Oil Prices DOWN, NOW!”
The criticism comes days after Chevron reported earnings of $12.1 billion for the most recent quarter, nearly fivefold from the same period last year. On today’s Fox Business interview, Wirth said his firm was producing record amounts of oil in the U.S., and refining record volumes of crude at its fuel plants in the country.
The oil industry has been gearing up for attacks from the White House over high energy prices. Companies such as Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Occidental plan to absorb whatever criticism comes at them and wait for it to blow over, according to people familiar with their thinking—but whether this strategy will work with Trump remains to be seen.
Though oil prices have come down significantly from their Iran war peaks, the dynamics that determine the final price customers pay are complicated, and not entirely in Big Oil companies’ control. Chevron owns five refineries in the U.S., but virtually all of Chevron-branded gas stations in the U.S. are independently owned and operated, and gas-station operators are the ones setting the price at the pump.
I’m sure we’ve got quite a few Cajuns fans who work for or do service work for the above mentioned oil companies.