https://www.americanprogress.org/article/these-top-5-oil-companies-just-raked-in-35-billion-while-americans-pay-more-at-the-pump/
Instead of using this cash to make the investments needed to help lower the price of oil or to fulfill their climate pledges, companies are giving most of it back to their already extremely wealthy shareholders in the form of stock buybacks or giving it back to themselves in the form of executive bonuses. Last year, 28 of the top oil and gas CEOs raked in $394 million in compensation—a nearly $45 million increase since 2020.
So just how rich have these companies gotten during the first three months of 2022?*
Shell’s profits were
280 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021.
Shell made $19.3 billion in total profits in 2021.
Shell bought back $8.5 billion in stocks for wealthy shareholders.
Shell cut 5,000 jobs from its workforce in 2021.
Shell’s CEO has not been shy about admitting that Russia’s war on Ukraine helped the company’s profits, saying on a recent shareholder call that “well, you know, can I also say that the performance we are seeing this quarter, of course, has been helped by the macro, and the macro has been impacted by the war in Ukraine.”
ExxonMobil’s profits were
320 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021.
ExxonMobil made $23 billion in total profits in 2021.
ExxonMobil pledged to buy back $30 billion in stocks for wealthy shareholders through 2023.
ExxonMobil cut 9,000 jobs from its workforce in 2021 to “cut costs.”
Despite being one of the most profitable corporations in the United States, ExxonMobil paid an effective federal income tax rate of just more than 2 percent in 2021, and that is not for a lack of funds. ExxonMobil’s Chief Financial Officer Kathy Mikells underscored just how much the company expected to profit in the first quarter of 2022 and how that would benefit shareholders, saying in early March that “we expect to generate over $100 billion in excess cash flow beyond meeting our capital program and current dividend, and so I would say we have a very robust forward plan and we expect to have sustained excess cash flow and increasing shareholder distributions.”
Chevron’s profits were
380 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021.
Chevron made $15.6 billion in total profits in 2021.
Chevron plans to buy back $10 billion in stocks for wealthy shareholders by the end of 2022.
Chevron cut its workforce by 5,000 jobs in 2021.
Despite being one of the most profitable corporations in the United States, Chevron paid an effective federal income tax rate of less than 2 percent in 2021. Moreover, Chevron’s CEO has been upfront about the profits they are raking in, saying amidst rising gas prices in January that “the last two quarters have been the best two quarters the company has ever seen.”
BP’s profits were
240 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021.
BP made $12.8 billion in total profits in 2021.
BP expanded its stock buyback plan to $2.5 billion for wealthy shareholders in 2022.
BP cut its workforce by 2,000 jobs in 2021.
BP executives attributed their record profits to “exceptional oil and gas trading” conditions—conditions that included Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Americans suffering record-high gas prices.
ConocoPhillips’ profits were
480 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2021.
ConocoPhillips made $8 billion in total profits in 2021.
ConocoPhillips plans to buy back $10 billion in stocks for wealthy shareholders in 2022.
ConocoPhillips’ workforce numbers stayed essentially flat in 2021.
ConocoPhillips’ has tripled its lobbying expenditures to lock in oil and gas development for decades to come at its proposed Willow project in the Western Arctic. The proposed project threatens to erase the climate benefits of renewables on public lands and waters and would require the installation of artificial “chillers” to refreeze the Arctic’s melting permafrost in order to build the infrastructure needed to drill for oil. The company has also been under fire for a recent gas leak that “led to the temporary removal of 300 personnel [and] alarmed residents in the nearby village of Nuiqsut.”
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