US President Joe Biden told US oil refineries that the unprecedented profit margin was unacceptable and called for “immediate action” to improve capacity, as rising gasoline prices fueled record inflation and fears of a recession, according to Bloomberg News.
“In a time of war, higher-than-normal refinery profit margins passed directly to American families are unacceptable,” Biden said in a letter sent to major oil companies on Wednesday.
Biden added that his administration was ready to take any “reasonable and appropriate” steps that would help companies increase production in the near term, and said he would order Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to convene an emergency meeting on the matter in the coming days.
The president added that the federal government would be in talks with the National Petroleum Council – an advisory committee representing the industry – and called on the companies to provide an explanation to the Energy Department about why they were cutting capacity and what could be done to address gas prices, which currently average more than $5 a gallon around the world. .
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