On Wednesday, House Democrats grilled oil executives once more on Capitol Hill over rising gas prices. It was the typical finger-pointing circus that has been going on since the prices at the pumps have soared.

One Democrat accused the oil execs of “ripping off the American people” and putting profits in front of increasing production.

“We do not control the market price of crude oil or natural gas, nor of refined products like gasoline and diesel fuel, and we have no tolerance for gouging,” said Chevron CEO Michael Wirth.

However, in the same hearing, the oil execs said they have no plans to halt payments of dividends to stockholders.

Meanwhile, Republican politicians have been blaming the Biden administration policies for rising prices. The Keystone XL pipeline comes to mind. But that pipeline wasn’t running before President Biden’s decision to revoke its permit and its cancellation didn’t prevent oil from being transported by other means.

Who’s really to blame?

Well, it’s complicated. The oil execs reminded House representatives at the hearing that oil is a global market. While the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of oil, there are many other producing countries who affect the price per barrel. And of course, Russia is one of them. The U.S. is already banning oil from Russia because of its war in Ukraine and Europe is contemplating such a move. So the war makes a bad situation even worse.

What’s the answer?

The U.S. can’t pump more crude to bring prices down again. The only way to significantly boost production is to drill more. And that takes investment by oil companies and they are not showing any motivation to do that.

The Biden administration can help with boosting that motivation by reviewing regulatory policies. But that’s more of a long-term strategy.

Unfortunately, there are no short-term solutions, other than being more thrifty over where we drive and how we drive to save money at the pump.

And finger-pointing is not a solution at all. Energy hearings that look for answers instead of casting blame will be more productive.