As Americans faced high gas prices, big oil companies doubled their profits

Brooks Kraft / Getty Images The top five oil companies based in the West set new earning records in 2022, all at least doubling their 2021 profits to achieve combined earnings of nearly $200 billion. ExxonMobil reported the highest profits of any single company at almost $56 billion. These earnings come in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war has impacted the price of various commodities, especially oil, and strained an already rising inflation rate.  Americans saw gas prices reach their peak in mid-June with a national average of $5 per gallon according to the American Automobile Association. It would take another two months before prices fell below $4 a gallon. The decision to prioritize shareholder interests has drawn criticism from both the Biden administration and other Democrats.  “They invested too little of that profit to increase domestic production and keep gas prices down,” President Biden said during the State of the Union address on Feb. 7. “Instead, they used those record profits to buy back their own stock, rewarding their CEOs and shareholders.” Annual reports show profits outpaced production growth