If the oil companies are making record profits couldn't they lower prices?

Question

Do they need to make record profits while the country goes broke?

Isn't this price gougeing? I mean what if some company say Wal Mart was able to be a monopoly and during a storm charged double or triple for batteries?

The government steps in and says you can't do that.

Oh that's right Bush owns oil wells so he can do that.

Answer 1

Oil companies don't set the price of oil.  It is determined by supply and demand (and the value of the U.S. dollar).  Supply has been steadily declining, demand has been rapidly increasing due to emerging markets such as India and China, and the U.S. dollar has been dropping relative to other currencies.  Oil companies have no control.  

Bush has no control either since it's a global market.  If he makes all U.S. oil producers sell their oil below market prices, they will just export it to other countries, which would compromise our own oil supply.

The industry was built on $45/bbl (it's now about $115/bbl) and it suffered in the 1980's when prices dropped below $30/bbl.  In the short run, if you want to take advantage of rising oil prices, buy stock in oil companies.  In the long run, the only cure for high prices is higher prices, meaning that eventually, prices will get high enough to lower demand.

Answer 2

They are NOT making record profits PER GALLON.  They are making record TOTAL profits because the AMOUNT sold is at record highs.  The profit MARGIN is actually lower than Wal-mart.  The Federal tax they pay is nearly 3 times their profits.

Answer 3

As long as the CEO's are making the big bucks, they could

care less about the public.  They are all laughing all the way to the bank. All they care about is their wallets $$$$$$$$$.

Answer 4

1. america gets most of its oil from Saudi Arabia we make the natural gas. They know weve become dependent  on oil and have us in a jam. raspberry. WE make the coal nd they need it shouldnt we do the same thing? And when youre making billions a week why would you wanna make less?

Answer 5

Supply and demand: Supply is lowering while demand grows

Prices go up