With earnings season in full force, Biden was responding to a barrage of reports about America’s biggest oil companies posting record profits. In his statement Monday, which was broadcast at 4:30 p.m. EST, Biden said oil companies aren’t making windfalls because of their innovation. Instead, they were reaping windfalls on the back of a “brutal” war launched by Russia in Ukraine. The US president said he would work with Congress to impose tax penalties on oil company profits, but did not elaborate during the briefing and did not take questions from reporters. Earlier in the day, a White House official told The Associated Press that “The president will again call on oil and gas companies to invest their record profits in lowering costs for American families and increasing production.” “And if they don’t, he will call on Congress to consider requiring oil companies to pay tax penalties and face other restrictions,” the unnamed official told the AP before the live briefing. Oil majors enjoyed increased profits for the third quarter of 2022, with Exxon reporting a record profit of $19.7 billion on Friday, beating analysts’ estimates by about $4 billion. Shell came in at $9.5 billion – its second-highest profit to date, and Chevron also posted its second-highest profit at $11.2 billion, double what it reported for the same quarter in 2021. Its prices gas at the pump fell for the third week in a row? However, the White House maintains that prices have not fallen enough. National averages for a gallon of gasoline in the United States fell to $3.72 on Monday, according to GasBuddy data. Also on Monday, government data showed that US oil production rose to nearly 12 million barrels per day in August. That number represents the highest level of oil production in the United States before the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More top reads from Oilprice.com: