Nevada Senator Grills Greedy Oil Company Exec

[babylonsister]

https://crooksandliars.com/2022/03/cortez-masto-oil-executive

Nevada Senator Grills Greedy Oil Company Exec
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto asked very pointed questions of this Shell Oil VP — namely, why are they using profits for payouts to shareholders instead of increasing oil production?
By Aliza Worthington — March 11, 2022
Video @ link~


Quick, someone please introduce Peter Doocy to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto! She's talking to the people HE should be talking to, and asking the questions HE should be asking before he comes into Jen Psaki's press briefings with his idiotic assertions that the Biden administration has anything at all to do with gas prices!

Today, the Nevada Democratic senator grilled a Shell Oil company executive demanding to know exactly why they weren't doing exactly what Jen Psaki has been patiently explaining to Doocy they should be doing: working to increase the oil supply to lower prices at the pump.

Sen. Cortez Masto pointed out, "In recent days, major oil companies in the United States have said that they would rather use their earnings from higher prices to boost payouts to shareholders, and expand their operations slowly, rather than rush to drill new or develop existing wells. So, Ms. Hirstius, my question to you is, can you explain at a time like this, why your company would be prioritizing payouts to shareholders rather than working to increase our oil supply?"

Colette Hirstius strung some words together into some phrases, none of which began to answer the question.

snip//

Cutting her losses, Cortez Masto said, "Okay, I've only got so much time, so let me move on here, because I didn't get an answer to my question."

Well, she kind of did get an answer, but the answer is that the oil companies clearly care more about rewarding shareholders than consumers, and that while they promise not to decrease production, they're not doing anything to increase their production either, even though they could very easily do that, helping to lower gas prices at the pump. They have the money. They have the approved permits to drill. They have the profits. They'd just rather give those profits to their shareholders than spend it on developing new sources right at their fingertips.

[mwooldri]

1. Windfall tax time IMO.

They get record profits, should reinvest them IMO.

[turbinetree]

2. This is another item which also called "INFLATION".....but everyone else calls it raising gas prices

or they can come on the news cycle like my local ones and just call it plain greed.......but they don't .....

[LastDemocratInSC]

3. Increasing production of anything increases costs for the producer

and those increased costs can lower profits. The oil companies are responding to activist investors who are seeking increased returns. So, the companies are keeping production at a constant level and sending the new profits (a result of higher consumer prices) to the investors to satisfy their demands.

If those companies were manufacturing paper clips or door knobs the practice of satisfying investors instead of consumers would not have a great impact. But everyone currently needs the benefits that petroleum products provide so prioritizing investor demands in a time of national stress should certainly be questioned.

[Midnight Writer]

4. Break up the oil companies. Competition is the lifeblood of capitalism, isn't it?

Dozens of smaller companies will serve the public good more than a handful of giant corporations.