Congress grill oil execs over perceived injustices to the working class
8:50 a.m. Thursday, May 22, 2008
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Another record price for a barrel of oil has lawmakers demanding answers.
Political leaders in Washington gave big oil executives an earful Wednesday. Oil industry executives can expect another rough reception when they go before a House panel this morning.
They want to know what's caused the recent spike in oil and gas prices.
"You speak of this current upcycle. What a nice nice term, and I suppose we can tell our constituents when they find they cannot afford to go to work because of the price of gas, 'don't worry, you are in a current upcycle,'" Sen. Patrick Leahy said.
"Your industry has no problem in doubling your profits, tripling your profits. Even when prices at the pump go crazy, you have no problem in keeping up with your increasing profit," Sen. Herb Kohl said. "It doesn't seem fair, guys. It just doesn't seem fair."
Executives from Conoco Phillips, Shell, Chevron and BP say global forces are driving up prices.
The executives say the oil industry's profits are in line with those of other industries. And ExxonMobil Senior Vice President Stephen Simon said they're being squeezed by higher costs.
They testified for every dollar paid at the pump only 1.4 goes into their pocket. That adds up to tens of billions of dollars a year in profits.
They also pushed Congress for more domestic drilling and exploration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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May. 26, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)parkay (anonymous)
Why is Congress wasting their time berating oil company executives for allowing their companies to make excessive profits? They make about a dime profit on a gallon of gas, much less than the taxes imposed by Congress. Why isn’t Congress instead busy removing the silly tree-hugger restrictions on oil drilling and new refineries, so that increased American supply can ease this oil price crisis within 8 or 10 years? Congress should be telling tree-huggers to take a hike for the time being, and to go focus on reducing our demand for oil, for example, by encouraging fuel efficiency, which takes a lot of tough engineering work, but is being done.
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