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Biden’s War On “Big Oil” Backfires

Posted on Friday, February 10, 2023
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by Outside Contributor
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In Gallup’s latest annual survey of what Americans consider the most pressing problem facing the nation, “government” leapt several places since last year to top the list.  

That probably shouldn’t surprise anyone, considering the Biden Administration’s relentless effort to increase government intrusion into every aspect of Americans’ lives. The more familiar we become with government, the less we like it.  

It’s not by accident, after all, that among Ronald Reagan’s most enduring witticisms is, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”  

Recent events, however, have added an amusing new twist.  

Namely, it isn’t simply that government tends to bungle anything that it touches. Occasionally, it somehow manages to achieve the exact opposite of its intended result.  

For context, recall that throughout Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, he constantly promised to end fossil fuels and forcibly transition the nation to carbon-free energy. “I guarantee you we’re going to end fossil fuels,” he assured one young climate activist at a New Hampshire event in September 2019.  Biden also explicitly promised to ban fracking and pipelines, and insulted energy sector workers who would lose their jobs under his agenda by arrogantly lecturing that they should “learn how to program, for God’s sake!” In the two years since taking office, he has waged an unprecedented campaign to suffocate the U.S. energy sector. As a result, U.S. oil production remains well below its pre-pandemic levels.  

In the face of that all-out assault against petroleum producers, however, Exxon just announced a new record $55.7 billion profit in 2022, easily exceeding its fourteen-year-old record of $45 billion. “ExxonMobil earned nearly $56 billion in profit in 2022,” National Public Radio (NPR) lamented, “setting an annual record not just for itself but for any U.S. or European oil giant.”  

Just two years ago, Exxon was staggering and climate alarmists couldn’t have been happier. As The New York Times reported at the time, “In the worst year for the company in four decades, Exxon said it lost $22.4 billion in 2020, compared with a profit of $14.3 billion in 2019.”   

Something else makes Exxon’s new profit record especially amusing in terms of schadenfreude toward the climate alarm industrial complex. In recent years, traditional fossil fuel giants like BP and Shell caved to the activist crowd and shifted resources toward alternative energy. Exxon, however, resisted that pressure. “We leaned in when others leaned out,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said after announcing its 2022 earnings, “bucking conventional wisdom.” Adding insult to climate extremist injury, Mr. Woods noted that, “We are underinvesting as an industry in this space.”  

For swimming against the climate alarmist tide, Exxon and its shareholders reaped their just reward.  

In contrast, BP and Shell have paid the price for bowing to the climate activists:  

The companies may have found it hard to ignore the message from stock markets that investors prefer oil companies to stick to their knitting. U.S.-based Chevron and ExxonMobil are investing very little in the energy transition relative to their European counterparts, but their shares trade at 11 times and 10 times their projected earnings, respectively. BP and Shell are on much lower multiples of around six times – a wider gap than historically…BP is targeting returns on investment of 15% to 20% for fossil fuel projects, compared with around 15% for bioenergy and 6% to 8% for renewable energy like solar and wind.  

Apparently BP was only willing to sacrifice so much real-world profit to placate the climate activist gods, however. This week, it announced that it plans to dramatically scale back its high-profile green energy transition:  

BP PLC said it would slow its shift to lower-carbon energy, increasing spending on the oil-and-gas production that helped push the company to record profit last year. BP joined its peers on both sides of the Atlantic in capitalizing on soaring energy prices in the fourth quarter, and the company’s strategic shift highlighted how fossil fuels continue to be the profit drivers for the industry’s biggest players.  

“At the end of the day, we’re responding to what society wants,” Chief Executive Bernard Looney said on Tuesday…BP’s London-listed shares gained 8% on Tuesday’s trading. Under Mr. Looney, who took over as CEO of the company three years ago, BP embarked on one of the industry’s most ambitious pivots away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources.  

Better a late conversion than never, although that may offer little comfort to BP shareholders.  

In any event, after two years the Biden Administration’s policies have punished American consumers with high gas prices, while creating shortage conditions that brought record profits for the oil companies he targeted. With a job performance like that, it’s no wonder that Americans now consider government itself our greatest problem.    

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David Millikan
David Millikan
1 year ago

Excellent article.

PaulE
PaulE
1 year ago

As the article points out, Biden along with every other Democrat running in 2020 campaigned on killing our domestic oil and natural gas industries. Stupid American still voted for Biden and he has kept his word after he was installed in the White House. Now energy costs all across the board are higher, as one would expect if someone implemented such destructive policies. Killing pipelines, cutting off investment capital, the federal government either drastically slowing or completely stopping the permits processing required for any energy company to do anything with the leases they hold on federal lands all have consequences. None of which are good.

This also of course has a ripple effect throughout our economy driving up the costs of virtually everything. Thus helping to drive inflation to the highest levels in over 40 years. Which of course acts as a stealth tax on all Americans at all levels of our society.

Elections have consequences. The American people made a fatal mistake in 2020, no matter how anyone may want to try and justify placing Joe Biden or any Democrat running in 2020 in the White House. Now we have to endure the consequences of that stupid decision and wonder if, under our new and improved mass mail-in voting process (that was a little sarcasm there folks) with known flaws identified in the 2005 bipartisan report, whether we will ever be able to have anyone but a Democrat in the White House. The way the Democrats are behaving, they seem relatively confident in being able to determine the outcome of any critical election in any but the most Republican dominated states.

johnh
johnh
1 year ago

Biden campaigned that he would get rid of fossil fuels. He will not admit that he has anything to do with the rising energy prices & well as denial by his WH spokesmen. We must stop this war on fossil fuels & support the oil companies so that we can be independent on oil & Natural Gaa. Both Biden’s green deal & fossil fuel production can work in productive harmony so that the USA does not become a country of suffering & high costs & dependent on Govt. handouts.

johnh
johnh
1 year ago

How many people are fooled by Biden taking oil out of US Strategic Oil Reserve to try to hide the high price of gas at the pumps & his begging Iran, OPEC & Venzeuela to pick up oil production to try to keep oil prices down but come from foreign production. Russian invasion of Ukraine has huge impact on oil prices , but Biden must realize he is just as responsible for the USA oil prices.

Granny26
Granny26
1 year ago

We need to impeach both those incompetent jackasses in the White House.

John Bass
John Bass
1 year ago

I don’t know how you could say biden’s war on big oil backfired when all it did was create shortages to where the price naturally skyrocketed. Yeah big oil made huge profits from it but the American public are the ones that suffered and have paid the price. Nothing backfired, comrade joe still got what he wanted and I guarantee you he doesn’t give a rats @$$ that we’re paying for it at the pump.

I would consider a backfire to be where NO ONE bought any of the EV’S now being offered by automakers and Americans were demanding more oil production and getting it.

Go green if you choose to, just don’t force it down our throats. At the very least, transition into it over the next twenty or thirty years, but let’s not go cold turkey…there’s no need to.

Cathleen
Cathleen
1 year ago

HEY JOE, LET IT GO! We aren’t ready to go green just yet! We are making strides but your forcing of the issue is literally killing people financially.

Trisha
Trisha
1 year ago

Hey Joe: why don’t you retire? Since you got out of your basement and took over our beloved country thru all the illegal voting you have made our good lives miserable – everything – food, gas, your inflation. When are you going to “the home”. You can sure afford it! I’m sure you have exchanged your Chinese money for American dollars! You and your so-called administration are absolutely not doing any good for us Americans.

Randall L. Beatty
Randall L. Beatty
1 year ago

They push the electric cars on us like we have an extra $ 50,000 or more for a car forget a truck that is $70,000 on up with Biden and his great VP and others in charge this has become a very poor nation media will lie and say we are all doing great but we know different we need a better country then what we got we the people deserve better.

johnh
johnh
1 year ago

Republicans must come up with a viable candidate & take back the White House in 2024. USA must have both Green Energy & Fossil fuel Energy for the next 50-years & work in productive harmony until it is feasible to go totally green. Does Biden have any plans at all regarding trucking industry & air services like Air Force One ? Cannot imagine flying on a jet that is battery operated , but maybe will just shut down all airports along with gas stations , etc. and put millions out of work ????

COME ON MAN !! As you , say make no mistakes…………

M.B.
M.B.
1 year ago

You can’t just flip a switch and go green . Our government is made up of lawyers , and politicians who have no experience in the natural gas, and oil businesses. Do they know how many products they use everyday that are made with oil? Do they know that natural gas is clean burning, and powers the electrical grids? Do they know their windmills are killing whales in the Atlantic Ocean?This is a political game that’s lining their pockets. The great A.O.C. stated the world will end in 10 more years. The bloated Al Gore and his cronies barking out bulls~~~ to the whole world, yet while flying on their personal jets. I don’t think those jets run on batteries do you ? Do we need an overhaul of government employees or what ? I can only think of a handful that’s been useful. God help us, and send us a great leader. We’re sick all the lies .

sdgorton
sdgorton
1 year ago

We don’t need demoncrats or Rhino’s we need a total overthrow of the Maxist, facist, communistic, nazi government that now exists. Get rid of all politicians & the national debt would be gone!!!! Reinstate a government of the people & for the people and ban all lawyers from working in this new government>

J.Mize
J.Mize
1 year ago

My Grandfather told me once unsolicited, He was a die hard Democrat, he said it seems every time we have a Democratic President we get into a war, he was angry at what was happening at the time in BIG GOVERNMENT… I have observed the same in many of the administrations that have stepped in the American political scene over the last 60 years. I often have thought and agreed with his point of view. He was an amazing individual, totally self-sufficient in most respects, highly confident, and he passed that on to me. I have never voted Democrat. Never saw a candidate that was worth me casting a vote for. Still don’t or can’t see that happening. This Biden guy is about as bad as I have ever witnessed. Under the table he is scary, and I have seen, witnessed too much of his antics with ” people” how he manipulates. The Biden crew to me cannot be trusted to ever do the right thing for our Country. But for a long time the management and decisions regarding the future of our country have not been done by the person who now occupies the While House. The office has been sold to the highest bidder. America Be Damned we will do it our way mentality. Unfortunately we have a paradox, ” as the axiom goes ” be careful what you wish for, because the result may be worse than what we are dealing with now”. I cannot begin to imagine what we would be up against if the individual that is standing in the VP’s corner would be given any power. We need to take the Senate back and get on with the investigations and get to a new better horizon and fast before China decides it cannot wait any longer to provoke us. Our sovereignty is slipping because of the adolescent manner in which the current administration is handling the most important decisions that come down the pipe. To simply overthrow the jokers that are running the circus this week would invite serious threats from offshore aggressors. I will never forget the statement by that GENERAL SMILEY as he offered his point to the CCP,,, ” OH DONT WORRY I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN WE ARE GOING TO ATTACK ” ????? What child lets the bully know when he is going to punch back? When this bunch is done and we move to the next better level of management.. I pray things will improve as least in the short run. P.S. I am looking for an electric motor to put in my Corvette so I can drive it in California. 🙁

Jess
Jess
1 year ago

BIG GOVERNMENT ADDS UP TO A GOVERNMENT RUN NOT BY IT’S PEOPLE, BUT BY DYSTOPIAN DICTATORS WHO DO AS THEY PLEASE. We have had first hand experience of this already. Have we had enough, that is the question !

James H
James H
1 year ago

Government does not produce anything!! It can only obtain money through printing, borrowing and taxation. Government is necessary to protect the people from foreign enemies! After that, government is a liability, not an asset. We will prosper as a nation by having less government! The more we allow them to “provide” for us, the less we will have! We need to tell our representatives to cut all discretionary spending!! Private business can do most all of what government spends money on far better at a much lower cost!!

Brad Brown
Brad Brown
1 year ago

So true, and I think that they knew these record profits would be the result and they’re laughing all the way to the bank! All part of the gobalist’s plan! They’re raking in the cash so they can steal more elections.

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