Democrats, Republicans spar with oil executives on who's to blame for high gas prices

House Republicans and Democrats interrupted and talked over a group of energy executives in a testy hearing Wednesday over who is to blame for high gas prices. 

House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Diana DeGette, D-Colo., started the questioning off quizzing the executives on why they think gas prices are high. She insisted that the executives give yes or no answers on whether the reason prices are high is because of low supply – and interrupted them when they insisted the answer is more complex. 

"Madam chair, fuel prices are impacted by a number of factors," Chevron Corp. CEO Michael Wirth said. 

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"So you don't agree that crude oil prices are high because there's less supply?" DeGette said, interrupting Wirth.

Wirth said crude oil prices are high because of worries about potential future supply disruptions.

DeGette interrupted him again: "OK, I'm sorry I don't have time." 

DeGette continued the confrontational exchange with the executives, including asking BP America Chairman David Lawler about a lack of correlation between crude oil prices and gas prices. Lawler explained that a "complex set of factors" impacts the price of gas, including supply risk, which affects all refined energy products. 

Ranking Member H. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., also interrupted the executives in some confrontational questioning. He said they were being too cautious in their answers about whether rhetoric from the Biden administration is reducing their investment in energy production. 

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"So, apparently everybody wants to get in the weeds and hide behind words," Griffith said. "The president says he wants to make sure that we do not lower the cost of production. Is that going to make you produce more or less? Mr. Woods, more or less?"

"I think the government has a role in encouraging investment and creating a positive investment climate," Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Darren Woods responded.

"And when we create a negative climate you produce less, isn't that true. Yes or no?" Griffith shot back. 

"There tends to be a chilling effect with negative words," Woods said. 

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Griffith also grilled Wirth, asking if he would "weigh in on this and give me a real answer?" Wirth responded that "mixed messages … do not encourage" investment. Griffith responded that Biden isn't sending mixed messages but instead "a clearly anti-fossil fuel message." 

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., then asked the executives if they would commit to increasing production, reducing dividends to investors and halting stock buybacks. 

"We are increasing production," Woods said. 

"Well, I need a yes or no," Pallone responded. 

"We will increase our production, yes," Woods said. 

"But … that means you're not going to reduce dividends and buybacks," Pallone said. "Well, that's unfortunate because we need you to do that as well."

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Each of the other executives said they would increase production but wouldn't commit to Pallone's buyback and dividend demands.

The executives who testified remotely at the hearing are Lawler, Wirth, Woods, Devon Energy CEO Richard Muncrief, Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield, and Shell USA president Gretchen Watkins.

It came at a time when Americans are paying near-record gas prices, partially as a result of Russia's war on Ukraine, which has roiled global energy markets. Average nationwide gas prices Tuesday were $4.164 per gallon, just below the record of $4.331 set on March 11, according to AAA.

Democrats say the gas prices are not only the fault of Russia, but also because energy company executives are busy maximizing their profits at the expense of Americans. Republicans say energy prices have been increasing since even before the Russian war on Ukraine, and put the blame on President Biden. 

"It's not just about the shareholders. The American people who we represent provide the industry with more than $30 billion a year in subsidies while the oil and gas companies report record-high profits," DeGette said Wednesday. "This committee is not going to sit back and allow this system, which forces American taxpayers to pay oil companies out of both pockets, first at the pump and then through tax breaks, to continue in its current form."

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"This hearing is a deliberate distraction … today is purely political," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., also said during the hearing on Wednesday. "President Biden needs cover for his war on American energy that has caused gas prices to skyrocket."

Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., took a different angle than other questioners. He demanded that the energy executives use green energy to lower prices for Americans. He asked Lawler what BP is doing to "move us toward a clean energy future." 

"What we're doing at BP is we're working flat out. Our refineries are running flat out. We are bringing 140,000 barrels of crude oil to the market this year. And the second half of this year."

"That doesn't sound too clean to me," Ruiz interrupted. He demanded that Lawler detail green energy efforts for BP. 

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Lawler said his company is making investments in green power, including "numerous large solar farms" and the installation of charging stations for electric cars. 

Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., meanwhile blamed President Biden for "targeting American energy production," and said that's the reason gas prices are high. He argued the U.S. should build its domestic energy industry and asked Sheffield what is blocking production and transportation of American oil and gas. Sheffield said the Keystone XL pipeline, which Biden canceled, would be a major help to the U.S.

"If Keystone would have been built six, seven years ago, Canadian production would be another million barrels a day going to the Gulf Coast refineries," he said. "That's an example, you have to make long-term decisions to help the industry. But there's not enough oil and gas pipelines, There's not enough LNG plants. We need LNG plants in the Northeast."