WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday accused oil companies of taking advantage of tight supply to boost profits and asked them to boost production.
Inflation rose again in May, due in particular to soaring fuel and food prices.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.0% last month after rising 0.3% in April, the Labor Department said. Over one year, it jumped 8.6%, after +8.3% the previous month.
Elected in particular on the promise to reduce the dependence of the United States on fossil fuels, Joe Biden nevertheless said on Friday that he hoped for an increase in oil production which should reach an unprecedented level next year.
But the head of state also sent a warning to the entire oil sector, whose profits have exploded thanks to the rise in crude prices, judging that consumers were paying too high a price.
“It is important that the oil and gas and refining industry does not take advantage of the challenge posed by the war in Ukraine to compound the hardship families are going through,” he said in a statement.
(Jarrett Renshaw; French version Nicolas Delame)
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