Oil executives refuse to testify to Congress on high gas prices

The executives of three major oil companies have refused a request from Democratic lawmakers to testify before Congress about the spikes in energy prices.

The snub was revealed Tuesday by House Natural Resources Chairman Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona Democrat, who has trumpeted his party’s claims that corporate greed and price gouging are responsible for high gasoline prices.

“As rising gas prices started hurting Americans, fossil fuel industry trade groups and their allies in Congress wasted no time placing blame on the Biden administration and pushing for a drilling free-for-all,” Mr. Grijalva said. “But when you look at oil companies’ record profits, these claims don’t add up.”

Democrats have accused oil and gas companies of using the Russia-Ukraine war as a pretext to rip off consumers at the pump. Gasoline prices have remained elevated — the national average for a gallon of regular gas was $4.24 Tuesday, up 63 cents from one month ago, according to AAA — while oil prices have largely returned to pre-invasion levels of around $100 per barrel after briefly spiking north of $130 per barrel.

Energy experts say it is quite common for gasoline prices to remain elevated well above oil following a sharp rise, and oil and gas companies have said they have little control over a volatile global energy market.

The Biden administration also has been reluctant to call for domestic increases in fossil fuel production because of the Democrats’ stalled climate change agenda.

The CEOs who rejected the request to testify at an April 5 hearing were from EOG Resources, Devon Energy Corporation and Occidental Petroleum. The three companies are significant oil and gas producers that operate within public lands and waters.

The April 5 hearing was canceled. A Democratic communications director for the committee said lawmakers will be “doing our due legal diligence before making any further decisions.”

Mr. Grijalva said he invited them to give them a chance to “make their case.”

“Apparently, they don’t think it’s worth defending,” Mr. Grijalva said. “Their silence tells us all we need to know—that cries for more drilling and looser regulations are nothing more than another age-old attempt to line their own pockets.”

Devon Energy Corp. was also among a half-dozen companies invited to a separate hearing on April 6 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. All six companies, including Devon Energy, plan to participate.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has also been in contact with oil companies about testifying.

Mr. Grijalva pointed to recent record earnings reports and calls with investors as evidence that the companies are taking advantage of high energy prices while refusing to invest in ramping up production to drive down costs.

The three companies that refused to testify hold over 4,000 leases across nearly 1.5 million acres of public land and have some 2,800 approved and unused drilling permits, according to the committee. Their profits hit record levels last year, totaling almost $9 billion.

Devon Energy President and CEO Rick Muncrief said during an earnings call last month that it will be “relentlessly focused on delivering high returns with capital employed, margin expansion, accelerating free cash flow growth and returning excess cash to shareholders.”

Occidental Petroleum President and CEO Vicki Hollub told its investors during a similar call that they “have no need and no intent to invest in production growth this year.”

EOG Resources President Ezra Yacob said in its recent earnings call that its “disciplined capital plan is focused on high-return reinvestment to continue improving our margins in not only 2022 but in future years as well.” Mr. Yacob added that they are “committed to returning cash to shareholders.”

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