The US Congress has called for restraint or perhaps even a "return" of some of the profits announced by oil giants, in order to help low-income groups to meet the heating oil bills this winter.
They suggest that the industry invest more in refining capacity or provide funds directly to government programmes.
Questions were raised as to how the companies post runaway or even "windfall" profits while the consumers were forced to fork out $ 3 and higher per gallon at the pumps. A nagging suspicion has been that of price gouging at the pumps, especially in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
"Big oil behemoths are making out like bandits while the average American family is getting killed by high gas prices and soon-to-be record heating oil prices", said Democratic Senator Charles Schumer in a statement.
Republican Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist, has indicated that the Senate may hold hearings on the issue of high energy prices and called on oil company executives to attend.
Another Republican, the House Speaker Dennis Hastert has called on oil firms to invest in more refineries. But Democrat Senator Byron Dorgan demanded a "reimbursement" for consumers by proposing a temporary windfall tax with the money collected to be given to taxpayers by way of rebates.
By and large, huge oil corporations have been reporting third quarter profits of between 35 per cent and 68 per cent, a trend that is raising eyebrows on Capitol Hill.
The world's largest oil giant, the ExxonMobil, announced that its third quarter income rose 75 per cent to nearly $ 10 billions. Its profits in the first nine months came to over US$ 25 billions and this year's sales are expected to top $ 100 billions.
