Oil giants fight back: ExxonMobil sues the EU against windfall tax!

The oil giant ExxonMobil said that it had launched a legal challenge against the EU's imposition of a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, calling this measure "counterproductive" and calling for more "deliberate policy" measures.

The subsidiaries of ExxonMobil in the Netherlands and Germany filed a lawsuit to the European Common Court on December 28, 2022.

ExxonMobil said in a statement: "This tax will weaken investor confidence, hinder investment and increase dependence on imported energy and fuel products."

"European industry has faced a very realistic competitiveness crisis, and the government should support the production of reliable and affordable energy... We will continue to work with EU leaders to solve these problems. Deliberate policies are essential." ExxonMobil stressed.

In September 2022, the EU agreed to take a package of measures to alleviate the rising energy costs, reduce energy demand and collect excessive income from oil and gas companies by imposing windfall profits tax.

According to the proposal, the part of energy companies whose profits in 2022 are higher than the average profits of the previous three years by 20% or more will be taxed at a tax rate of at least 33%.

According to the European Commission, this tax can bring 25 billion euros of public revenue.

ExxonMobil said in a statement that due to the heavy pressure of the energy crisis on families and enterprises, the company is committed to increasing the energy supply to Europe.

"Whether we invest here (in the future) depends mainly on the attractiveness and global competitiveness of Europe." ExxonMobil said that in the past 10 years, it has been one of the largest investors in the European oil refining industry, investing more than US $3 billion in major oil refining projects.

"The expansion and improvement of Antwerp and Rotterdam have helped us achieve the best productivity since 2008. While Europe is trying to reduce energy imports from Russia, we have provided more energy products," it added.

Many oil and gas companies also criticized the windfall tax policy, saying that it did not help reduce consumer costs.