Big Oil CEO responds to Biden: We would never 'take advantage of' war in Ukraine

(CNN Business) American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers insisted on Thursday that US oil companies would not seek to capitalize on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Our companies would never take advantage of this kind of situation," Sommers, who leads the most powerful US energy trade group, told CNN in a phone interview.

Earlier on Thursday, Biden delivered a warning to the oil industry amid soaring prices.

"American oil and gas companies should not -- should not exploit this moment to hike their prices to raise profits," Biden said in prepared remarks.

Sommers argued that US oil companies want to do what's best for consumers around the world.

"My member companies are patriots," he said. "This is not a time to target one particular industry that has a proven record."

Speaking after US oil prices hit $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014, Biden said the United States is "actively working" with nations around the world to potentially tap into emergency oil reserves in a coordinated fashion.

"And the United States will release additional barrels of oil as conditions warrant," Biden said.

The API pledged to cooperate with a potential release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, America's emergency stockpile of oil.

"This is exactly what the SPR is designed to do -- to cushion these kinds of situations where there is a supply-demand imbalance as a consequence of national security issues," Sommers said.

Pointing to rising rig counts and projections for higher US oil production, Sommers indicated the domestic oil industry stands ready to add badly needed supply.

"Our producers are responding to the price environment and will continue to," he said. "We're focused on making sure that the European continent is well supplied from an energy perspective."

Even though oil prices have spiked well above pre-Covid levels and profits are surging, US oil output has not yet fully recovered.

Sommers did not say whether API members would cut ties with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, though he did sharply criticize Moscow.

"We of course condemn what is going on in Russia and are in full support of Ukraine during this terrible time for that country," he said. "We're entering into one of the scariest foreign policy times since the end of World War II."