Oil Industry Rakes in $317 Billion in First Nine Months of 2022, $107 Billion in Third Quarter With More Profits to Come

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the first nine months of this year, the oil and gas industry made $320 billion. In the third quarter alone, the industry raked in $109 billion, and more profits are still to be released. These staggering profits are made possible by price gouging families at the pump, taking hard earned wages from those who need it most to pad the salaries of Big Oil’s already-wealthy shareholders. 

In addition to their record profits, so far this year oil and gas companies have spent $142 billion on rewarding their shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends. Instead of lowering costs for consumers, this astronomical sum is simply further enriching oil and gas executives and other wealthy Wall Street shareholders. 

Here is a breakdown of third quarter profits for some of the largest corporations: 

Democrats in Congress worked hard to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, the most consequential climate action the United States has ever seen, to address the climate crisis that our dependence on oil and gas is fueling. Not a single Republican supported it. House Democrats also passed the Price Gouging Prevention Act to rein in  Big Oil’s price gouging practices, but every Republican opposed it. 

This theme will continue if Republicans win control of Congress in just five days, with Republicans and oil and gas lobbyists already planning to repeal billions of dollars in vital, cost-saving incentives to help lower energy costs for families across the country. Repealing these incentives will only serve to keep energy costs (and oil and gas profits) high.