Chevron, ExxonMobil report profits of almost $12 billion in first 3 months of 2022

April 29 (UPI) -- Two of the world's largest oil producers said in earnings reports on Friday that they made almost $12 billion in profits during the first three months of 2022 -- a time period when gas prices in the United States increased by about a dollar per gallon.

ExxonMobil said that its profits totaled $5.5 billion in the first quarter, even after it took a major hit related to its withdrawal from Russia over the war in Ukraine. Chevron reported a first-quarter profit of $6.3 billion.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said the company is investing to grow both traditional and new energy business lines and that Chevron's oil and gas production are up.

"Chevron is doing its part to grow domestic supply with U.S. oil and gas production up 10% over first quarter last year," Wirth said in a statement.

ExxonMobil said in its report that withdrawing from Russia cost it $3.4 billion.

"The quarter illustrated the strength of our underlying business and significant progress in further developing our competitively advantaged production portfolio," ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said in a statement.

Chevron's earnings report came as some Democrats in Congress accused Big Oil of price gouging and called for more authority to punish companies that do so. File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI

"Earnings increased modestly, as strong margin improvement and underlying growth was offset by weather and timing impacts. The absence of these temporary impacts in March provides strong, positive momentum for the second quarter."

ExxonMobil said "oil equivalent" production was 3.7 million barrels a day, down 4% from the fourth quarter of 2021.

TotalEnergies also reported a net income of almost $5 billion for the January-March period. it said it absorbed a $4.1 billion hit for Russia. Marathon Oil said last month that it will report first-quarter earnings next week.

Shell and ConocoPhillips will report on May 5 and BP on Tuesday.

The ExxonMobil and Chevron reports came a day after Democrats in Congress accused Big Oil of price-gouging and manipulating the consumer gasoline market.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that a proposal is in the works to lower prices at the pump and expand government authority to punish companies for gouging.

According to AAA, the national average for gas in the United States Friday was $4.16 per gallon. It said that gasoline is still over $5 per gallon in California, Hawaii and Nevada.