US President Donald Trump has said he has ordered investigations into major energy companies and accused them of “cheating” customers by not cutting gasoline prices after wholesale oil prices fell in global markets.
Trump wrote on social media that he expected gasoline prices to fall “much faster than I’m seeing.” He did not name any oil company in the post.
His comments come as wholesale oil prices fell amid the US-Israel war with Iran, but remain higher than before the conflict began.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents the oil and gas industry in the US, said gasoline prices “do not move in pace with crude oil”.
Trump said in the post on Wednesday: “Big oil companies are not dropping their prices at the pump to keep up with the sharply lower prices being paid for oil.
“Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being given the ‘eyes’.”
He said he had ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to “immediately begin looking into this.”
The BBC has contacted the DOJ and the White House for comment.
In response to Trump’s comments, API spokeswoman Bethany Williams said: “Our industry shares the goal of providing relief at the pump and restoring stability to global energy markets.”
He said the conflict was “still impacting supplies, refining and inventories”.
Oil prices rose after Iran responded to US-Israeli strikes on February 28, when it effectively closed the vital Strait of Hormuz, severely disrupting oil and gas shipments and sending energy prices soaring.
Brent crude, the global wholesale oil benchmark, reached nearly $120 (£91) a barrel in May as the war continued.
But prices have declined as peace talks have progressed. Brent fell below $74 a barrel on Wednesday, but it is still above the nearly $70 a barrel mark it hit before the conflict.
It’s a similar picture with the US wholesale oil benchmark, WTI crude, which fell to $70 a barrel on Wednesday but remains higher than before the war, when it traded at around $60 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the average price of regular gasoline in the US has fallen to about $3.93 a gallon after falling above $4 a gallon in April, the highest since 2022 but still well above pre-war levels.
Trump’s comments come after British oil companies faced similar allegations of unfairly increasing petrol prices after the start of the Iran war.
However, the UK competition regulator said in May there was no widespread evidence of this, and said average profit margins were “largely unchanged” between February and March.