There’s a trend emerging among oil and gas companies in 2011, and that trend is record profits. Here’s a snapshot of some oil companies’ numbers from the first quarter:
Exxon Mobil Corp.: $10.7 billion (26 percent increase)
Shell: $6.9 billion (30 percent increase)
Royal Dutch Shell: $6.3 billion
BP: $5.5 billion (135 percent increase)
ConocoPhillips: $3.03 billion
Occidental Petroleum Corp: $1.55 billion (46 percent increase)
In some areas of the country, gas prices are approaching $5 dollars a gallon, money that goes directly from the pocketbooks of American families to these companies’ profit margin.
These profits, however, aren’t fed by market forces alone; they are buttressed by $4 billion per year in government subsidies.
As American families struggle to fill their tanks and keep their budgets in the black, they shouldn’t also have to foot the bill for oil and gas companies reaping windfall profits in their own right – that’s why President Obama called on Congress to end those subsidies.
Earlier this week, President Obama sent a letter to leaders in Congress urging them to end the unfair and unnecessary tax breaks for the oil and gas companies. And Republican Speaker Boehner agreed, telling ABC News that eliminating the tax breaks for oil companies is, “certainly something we should be looking at.”
If Speaker Boehner is serious about helping American families instead of big oil companies, than he will keep his word and end their tax breaks.