Trump accuses big oil firms of price-gouging drivers

US President Donald Trump has said he has ordered an investigation into major energy companies, accusing them of "gouging" drivers by not cutting fuel prices after wholesale oil costs fell on global markets.

Speaking to reporters in the White House on Wednesday, Trump said "gasoline prices should be much lower at the pump" as he named Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP.

His remarks come after wholesale oil prices fell from peaks reached during the US-Israel war with Iran and are now close to levels seen before the conflict started.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents the oil and gas industry in the US, said fuel prices "don't move in lockstep with crude oil".

The BBC has contacted Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP for comment.

"Oil prices have come down so much and we are not seeing anything at the pump by comparison the way they should be," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"We should be, in my opinion, at $2.25 (£1.71) [a gallon] right now at the pump and we are higher than that."

Earlier, Trump posted on that he believed drivers are being "gouged" by energy firms, adding that he had ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to "immediately start looking into this".

"The price of fuel is not only national security issue, it impacts the wallet of every American. We will always commit to ensuring affordability in this nation," a DOJ spokesperson told the BBC without confirming whether an investigation had been launched.

A White House spokesperson said: "President Trump was clear all along that there would be short-term, temporary disruptions to energy markets, and that oil and gas prices will quickly fall as soon as the Iran situation is resolved.

"President Trump has a proven track record of bringing gas prices to historic lows, and the Administration continues to be laser-focused on delivering economic relief for the American people."

In response to Trump's comments, the API's spokesperson Bethany Williams said: "Our industry shares the goal of delivering relief at the pump and restoring stability to global energy markets."

She added that the conflict is "still affecting supply, refining and inventories".

Oil prices shot up after Iran responded to US-Israeli strikes on 28 February by effectively shutting the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway, severely disrupting shipments of oil and gas and causing energy prices to soar.

Brent crude, the global wholesale oil benchmark, reached almost $120 a barrel in May as the war continued.

But prices have fallen since as peace talks have progressed. On Wednesday, Brent dropped to around the $74 a barrel mark it was at before the conflict.

It is a similar picture with the US wholesale oil benchmark, WTI crude, which dipped to $70 a barrel on Wednesday as it moved close to levels seen in the run-up to the war.

Meanwhile, the average price of regular gasoline in the US has fallen to about $3.93 a gallon after topping $4 a gallon in April, its highest since 2022, but is still well above pre-war levels.

Trump's comments come after UK oil firms faced similar accusations of unfairly hiking petrol prices following the start of the Iran war.

However, the UK competition regulator said in May there was no widespread evidence of this, adding that average profit margins were "broadly unchanged" between February and March.