California Governor Gavin Newsom has lashed out at Valero, which this week reported one other financially sturdy quarter, saying the corporate was ripping off Californians by promoting fuels at increased costs.
In a statement, Newsom mentioned that “Big oil is ripping Californians off, hiking gas prices and making record profits. As Valero jacked up their profits by over 500% in just a year, Californians were paying for it at the pump instead of passing down those savings.”
“That’s why we’re taking action to implement a price gouging penalty to put these profits back in the pockets of Californians,” Governor Newsom mentioned.
This isn’t the primary time California’s governor has accused gasoline retailers and the oil trade as an entire of making the most of clients. Earlier this month, Newsom mentioned in one other statement that “While crude oil prices are down, oil companies have increased gas prices in California by a record 84 cents per gallon in just the last 10 days.”
“Meanwhile, oil companies have raked in unprecedented profits on the backs of hard-working Californians – nearly $100 billion in the last three months alone,” he mentioned. “Oil companies have failed to provide an explanation for the unprecedented divergence between prices in California compared to the national average.”
In the identical assertion, Newsom referred to as for a windfall tax on the trade “to ensure excess oil profits go back to help millions of Californians who are getting ripped off.”
Newsom is at present campaigning for re-election, with the midterms coinciding with third-quarter revenue season. This means there’ll possible be extra assaults on the oil trade and threats of windfall earnings, Bloomberg famous in a report this week.
Meanwhile, to handle runaway costs, Newsom ordered an early begin to winter-blend gasoline manufacturing, which is cheaper to provide than the summer time mix.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com