Oil Company Execs Defend High Pump Prices

[Eugene]

June 18, 2006, 2:43PM
Oil Company Execs Defend High Pump Prices

By JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Americans paying $3 per gallon at the pump have it relatively cheap
when compared with prices globally, say oil and gas company executives who defend
their record profits as essential to maintaining supplies.

In parts of Europe and elsewhere in the West, gasoline prices are more like $5 per
gallon to $7 per gallon, said the chairman of ConocoPhillips Co., James J. Mulva.

<snip>

Though many consumers blame high pump prices on oil companies greedy for profits,
the oil company chiefs blame global competition for supplies.

"If we didn't have this level of profitability, I don't think we could get the
supplies to where they need to get to," said the president of Shell Oil Co., John
Hofmeister. He emphasized that the companies are seeking greater access to federal
lands and offshore waters for exploration.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/3980954.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Um yeah. that must be it

:argh:

[marmar]

2. Yes, but in Europe the gas taxes pay for lots of things we're not getting.

And they have the option of using incredibly well-developed mass transit systems, which only a few cities in the U.S. have. That argument is a non-starter.

[Amonester]

17. And most of these countries don't get submerged into infinite debt.

They're not borrowing their own currency to pay for an illegal war of aggression in order steal another country's oil for these greedy CEO$ to retire as wealthy billionaire$ at the expense of the middle-class and working-class taxpayers' money and unnecessarily wasted blood.

[NYC]

35. Keep emphasizing that.

People don't realize that.

[ThomCat]

37. You're right.

This is absolute insulting blather.

I'd love to see gas taxed much more heavily to fund mass transit.

[bluebottle]

43. But the mass transit HAS to be planned as part of the urban development

... Mass transit intelligently planned puhlease!!

I pedalled along on my bike today on my way to work, a 60 seater bus goes by containing a driver + one passenger, 5 minutes later, driver + 2 passengers, 10 minutes later Driver - NO Passengers. Coming the other way Bus + 3 passengers and a Bus with NO Passengers ... I could cry, the freakin choking diesel alone so a handful of folks could commute is just sad.

Of course the only sadder event is the SUV + SUV + SUV + SUV ad infinitum taking little Jimmy and/or Jane to school passing me. Clearly they couldn't put little Jimmy and Jane on the bus as I'm sure that ONE passenger could be a child molester (at least in the mind of the parents).

Seriously folks there's something awfully wrong with this picture here *sigh* :(

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

39. Whoressert, as usual, didn't have the facts at his fingertips.

Or, if he did, wasn't wont to display that knowledge.

Spread 'em, Timmy!

[jimshoes]

3. Oh, OK then

as long as there is a good reason for it.

[BlueJazz]

4. As my German Friends say: "Yeah, Our fuel prices are higher but...

...we don't blow the money on idiotic Wars".
"We build highways that don't constantly fall apart, have National Health Care, Support the Arts...
support the Poor, Great Public Transpotation and try to use the monies for all...not the stinking Rich..."

[smirkymonkey]

7. Are any of them single?

I really want to get the hell out of this country.

[moondust]

19. Exactly. Global comparison is phony baloney.

But I knew, I just KNEW, that sooner or later they would use it to make us feel good about being ripped off.

[bluebottle]

27. ... Germany's growing population of Neo Nazis is one big nightmare

It seems the reunification is seeing a rampant increase in long-since considered expunged facism, blatant racism and specifically anti-sematism :(

Not sure I'd want to move back to Europe, in particular Germany these days

[Jon8503]

5. Marmar is 100% correct. In Europe you can actually get by without a

car and the mass transit systems over there are really great, clean, on-time and reasonably priced. We don't have that here, thanks to General Motors & the other car companies who made sure we did not get a good mass transit. Also, wanted suburbia where you drove more. As a result, we have high gas prices without a very effective transit system in most parts of the country.

That argument is pure bull-shit. It does not apply here where our situation is completely different.

[sweetheart]

21. "europe" has rural areas as well

What you say is not true at all where i live. It is true for public
transit in cities, indeed, but rural areas need cars, and europeean populations
are more rural than appearance betrays. The megacities of the USA are not a
european phenomena, rather many rural villiages and small hamlets that are not
as easy to travel about.

I pay 6 dollars per gallon in a rural area and there really is no practical alternative.

[Jon8503]

23. Yes, I know but not to the extent we have them.

[bluebottle]

25. Yup but will we continue to have them with unrestrained development

Look at sprawling suburbia where developers are continually running rampant fuelling city planning department's greed for a greater tax base. You think oil companies make money? Geez - look at the land grabbers, unplanned massive suburban development ---> strained infrstructure ---> forced commuter increase in #s and miles ---> higher water shortage ---> overcrowded schools --> worn out roads --> Energy drain! No planned public transportation or connecting amenities because civic budgets don't stretch over city limits or into county (currently unincorporated) land. No "affordable" housing except at the extreme limits (=more commuting)..

You see this everywhere - but look to Houston, Vegas, Phoenix, the SF East Bay and dare I say our worthy candidate Angelides land in Sacramento as prime examples of developers being one of the primary disfunction enabling elements.

[sweetheart]

29. Welcome to DU, bluebottle

welcome, to many grand moments,

slainte, :toast:

[bluebottle]

38. Seems likehome already

There's a lot of like minds here - and one or two out of them - glad to be aboard :)

[Jon8503]

30. Deleted. Posted wrong reply.

[Jon8503]

31. Yes, and this development was encouraged here and pushed by

the oil companies and the auto industry long ago to make sure they could sell their gas and tires. This was recently shown on PBS as well as other sources. They were the ones that wanted to make sure we did not have good mass transit and they are the ones that pushed for the suburbs to make sure they would have things as they are now. Evidently it worked.

[bluebottle]

40. Alas I know the story well - but have we not moved on?

I don't think its as simple as selling gas tires and cars it had to do more with globalization, global competition and alas it all has to do with winning wars :(

I live in the bay area, I'm not that ancient but I've seen the old footage of the trolleys going over the bay bridge and realize what a treasure we lost... but at the same time, industrial capability, freedom and the "American Dream" especially those dreams involving cars were "in vogue", you could actually park in San Francisco, pollution and global warming were the furthest thing from people's minds. Yep the car manufacturers, oil companies and tire makers all bandied together and took out the "competition" or more likely simply a "barrier" as they saw it. But that was a different era when companies could easily "get away" with what we would consider atrocities today.

The big question is we didn't have that early massive growth and industrial/commercial mobilization would we have enjoyed the sheer commercial power base that led to today's US culture.

Consider if we had held back industrialization and focused on natural resources, sustainable agriculture and non industrial pursuits. I somehow doubt we would have been able to supply war materiel to the Allies during WWII, I suspect we would have been overrun by the Japanese in Hawaii and Alaska

... the problem is we just can't let the past go, and if we truly want to get out of the mode of winning wars we need to cap off the infrastructure. ...

.. That means controlled growth, not just digging into the past to blame the excesses of an earlier era so we can forgive those of today's developers!

[Jon8503]

41. You can talk all around this subject. Everyone knows what the oil

have and are doing. Alas, no we cannot move on. Also, over 70% of the people know what is gong on and no, alas, they do not want to move on. They for example want an explanation how you can pay your CEO, millions, make millions in profits and then turn around and say but we don't really make that in profits.

I really appreciate your concern and support for the oil companies but it is what it is.

[bluebottle]

42. Show me the numbers?

As a cyclist, I think the only thing the oil companies have done for me is provide some of my bicycle parts - synthetics for my tires and a little chain oil ... and of-course the asphalt I ride on when I'm not off-road .... so you'll have to do better if you want to convince me that we need to dwell in the industrial past - but I do agree it is what it is. But again I'd rather move on and figure out what we are we going to do about it?

I really dislike statements that blindly toss meaningless statistics out with no basis - I'd like to know what "people" you are referring to that supposedly "know what is going on" that constitutes 70% of which constituency? I doubt that even 0.07% of the population at large totally "know what is going on", myself included which means that we base our assumptions on one or two issues and the rest is just a combination of OPINIONS we hear on the radio, see on TV, emphasized by our friends agendas or polarized political rhetoric on one side of the fence or the other etc. Thus we make a giant leap of faith and it becomes a basis on which we thrust our own opinions - not to mention who we vote for!

As for $Millions made by Oil company CEOs, I checked some facts and briefly scanned a Forbes listing, the majority of CEOs of Fortune 100 companies make $Millions even though some of those companies made losses (there's something wrong with that too ... but we are talking about oil).

So you see not everyone is hell-bent on looking for skeletons in oil-execs closets, I'd rather get us the heck off of this bloody war footing and figure out how we can plant more corn, get more solar/wind power, build safe nuke plants and save the freakin planet :)

[Jon8503]

45. First of all nobody is talking about dwelling in the industrial past

and I am really sorry if it offends you that I find what the oil companies doing is obscene. Also, the 70% number I am talking about is the negative figure of how many people think the oil company is ripping us off at the gas pumps. As far as "knowing what is going on". That is what matters to people that are having to all of a sudden do without to just get to work.

Now as far as anymore discussion on this. I have stated my opinion. You aren't going to change mine and I am not going to change yours on the oil companies. Evidently you did'nt see Tim Russert on the CEO's salaries or the huge percentage increase in profits this last time around.

Other than that I wish you and the oil companies well. Since they aren't doing so great, you might want to send them a donation to help them in their quest to find a better alternative fuel source for us all.

[bluebottle]

46. I'm not sure why you have to use extremes to describe my reply?

If anything "offends" me its where deliberately skewed rhetoric is used to make my response appear less reasonable to the casual reader! Its a dirty trick in my book. Nowhere in my response did I ever claim that I was offended - you simply chose to put that in there. It's that sort of misleading detail that devalues your arguments so I have to look closer at your claims and wonder what other aspects you are skewing to suit your own agenda. But you have also stated that my opinions simply don't count to you so if I were claiming the world were round and you are convinced its flat you are stating you are intractable regardless of whatever facts are staring you in the face.

Believe me I am no "fan" of oil companies, as you also incorrectly allege in our response but at least I try to get the facts before I attack someone's logic. I don't believe ALL oil companies can be put in the same light, I have seen ratified reports in the breakdown of the profits for a group of gas stations. The stations themselves make a healthy profit - but amazingly NOT from the gas that's about 5-10% of their profit, 90-95% is from sales of food, drink, cigarettes and general merchandise etc. "Big Oil" is simply too easy a target - from a pure profitability standpoint as you point they are down the pecking order - I'm sure if we looked there are dozens of industries with more obscene profits... but I forget, you don't appear to want to understand the details in case you are forced to reconsider your stance.

I too have been a frequent attacker of "big oil" but I took a closer look at whats going on and now I'm not so sure that we get fed the right facts by the media or other sensationalist propaganda and folks with questionable agendas. Not to say that oil companies don't add their ounce of spin to the mix but IMO they've come a long way in 30 years and need encouragement not blind chastisement if we are ever to make changes.

[Jon8503]

48. As I stated I am through with this. However, I believe it is quite

clear who has the agenda here. Take a look around, not everyone can be wrong about the oil companies. I wish you luck in your promotion and support of them.

[bluebottle]

49. You don't get it ah well - looks like you are just chanting the mob-think

I don't know why you have to keep insisting I'm promoting oil companies other than it must suit whatever your agenda is? I don't have any agenda other than urging folks to not blindly follow a mob mentality like lemmings. I may be a liberal at heart but I am a natural contrarian, question EVERYTHING including your own beliefs from time to time. Whether it has to do with blindly believing everything some oil industry exec claims, or everything that a Greenpeace evangelist claims - there is a common-sense area somewhere in the middle where the real truth lies and we should all strive to find it.

Instead, too many folks just get into ostrich mode and start chanting a mob mantra. This is the very same human condition of blatant ignorance that leads to the emergence of mass monopolies controlling the press and other media. The very same mentality that leads to religious fundamentalism - look at Iran, look at the avid Bush supporters and for that matter look at the very same mass ignorance that fuelled anti-semitism, jack-boot fascism and elected Hitler as chancellor of Germany.

Please don't get me wrong, I applaud your fervour and commitment, I welcome your discussion and dialogue but please don't spend your time twisting my words into making it look like I'm sending a different message than I intend. Most of all please don't simply stick your head in a bucket of sand and ignore seeking the truth (it's undignified to say the least).

Safe travels, good discussions and peace out :)

[Jon8503]

50. I give you this Bluebottle, you are persistent and passionate in your

beliefs and I respect that. Also, this last post of yours has much that I agree with. All of course except your positive feelings or possibilities of the oil companies in a good way. I still believe they are full of greed and corruption and are not working for the good of all mankind.

There are other reasons for this, too tired from work to go into it now. An article from the Nation some time ago and how they treat the foreign workers and people of other countries they are in I would like for you to read.

However, I agree with you on questioning everything. I don't agree with the mob mentality you mention. I will give you that I should not insinuate you are promoting the oil companies, that is just a compromise. If I twisted your words, I apologize for that, didn't think I did that but I agree, that is wrong to do such a thing.

I like an honest debate and dialog on a subject and believe both sides will learn something if it is done properly.

Anyway, wanted to get back to you on that. Will try to find some of that info on these villains for you.

Back at you on safe travels and the good discussions and peace. Take Care.

[acmavm]

6. Same old shit, another day.

[noahmijo]

8. Boo hoo cry me a fuckin river oil execs

Next I'm going to attend a sensitivity seminar that will teach me to feel sorry for Coyotes who are *forced* to prey on bunnies

[walldude]

9. *Sigh* Is it just me or is anyone else tired of being treated

like a complete moron. "Hi, I'm president of "Screw You Oil" and I know that you Americans are too busy watching Idol and worrying about Britney's new baby to investigate why U.S. gas prices are so high. So I'm here to tell you to ignore that $400 million bonus we gave our last CEO and just be damn glad you don't live in Europe". :puke:

[Sadie5]

10. Have the Democrats said much

about what their strategy will be for lowering pump prices. When prices inched up during Jimmy Carter's term you should have heard the GOP yelling. The GOP is nothing short of a bunch of two faced liars.

[bluebottle]

26. Do what Venezuela does - force pump prices down to 12c a gallon

Make the Oil companies pay a fortune in tax then wonder why they abandon the country - that's ok, the government can sieze the production facilities, run them into the ground, pollute the heck out of the local environment, blame the former owners then encourage the indigenous population go for the US Oil company deep-pocket class action lawsuit to recover billions of damages in 5-10 years time...

... there's something wrong with this picture - it's seems a little deja-vu if you ask me ...

[SpiralHawk]

12. "Hi, I'm a republicon oil crony, and I want More Massive Profits."

eom

[CatholicEdHead]

13. Exactly, that is what Wall Street wants

Even though they have been doing well by Wall Street standards, Wall Street will expect even more out of them in future quarters.

[geomon666]

11. Oh whatever.

The world is dependent on oil because you motherfuckers will it so. Why don't you all just come out and say "We like money. We love money especially when we kill other people to get it. Makes us horny long time."

[Pithy Cherub]

14. That is the dumbest sentence from an oil honcho ever heard:

"If we didn't have this level of profitability, I don't think we could get the supplies to where they need to get to," said the president of Shell Oil Co., John Hofmeister. He emphasized that the companies are seeking greater access to federal lands and offshore waters for exploration." and a complete non sequitur to cement his idiot status!

Translation: We need big profits because we are too inefficient to rely on lower margins to force us to be competitive and part of the common good. Besides, we want to continue to pump profits up as we continue to rape the land looking for more oil. :puke:

[Jon8503]

16. Ya but did you catch when he was asked what about the fact that

last year Exxon only invested 100 million out of all their profits back into the company for oil exploration, etc. not counting what they paid that CEO.

Also, how he did not want to talk about it. Said they needed to discuss solutions to the problems and that conversation about Exxon did not help anything.

[bluebottle]

28. Yep - that is a pretty dumb statement

... if he said something about needing the profit to ensure they were environmentally responsible and to provide a safe and consistent infrastructure - I could kinda buy that.... but hey it seems that fella came from the shallow end of the ... um ... oil reservoir :P

Most of the execs come over as a bunch of dufuses, about the only oil exec I've heard who tells a half-decent story is the Chevron CEO O'Reilly.

[UpInArms]

15. "Oink! Oink" squeals Lee Raymond!

In a file photo Exxon Mobil Corp. Chairman and CEO Lee Raymond laughs during a news conference in Dallas, Wednesday, May 25, 2005. Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest publicly traded oil company in the world, on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005, said third-quarter profit surged, buoyed by higher crude-oil and natural-gas prices, even as the period's hurricanes hampered production. Revenue grew to $100.72 billion from $76.38 billion in the prior-year period. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1028-01.htm

[hiphopnation]

53. goddamn that is some chin

as if one chin wasn't enough...why don't the all own up and admit that they're really protecting thier precious double-chins?

[cantstandbush]

18. You would think that since these folks are all Republicans, that would

tell voters something?

[Rex]

20. Their defense, "what ya gonna do about it?"

Huh? What ya gonna do sucker? Send more millionaires to Congress? HAHA! :crazy:

[unkachuck]

22. "If we....

....didn't have this level of profitability, I don't think we could get the
supplies to where they need to get to,"....

....so, if we continue to challenge your extortionistic pricing, you might stop providing us with an ample supply of gasoline?....

....and some of you don't like Socialism....what energy minister, in any democratically elected Socialist government, would ever respond like that?....

....nationalize the pricks....

[tabasco]

24. Now there's a shocker for a headline.

Breaking News!

People favor more money in their bank accounts !

How do they explain the record profits if times are so bad??

[KansDem]

32. Then give us mass transit!

Americans paying $3 per gallon at the pump have it relatively cheap
when compared with prices globally...

Just like they have globally.

[pinniped]

33. In other words, these greedy fuckers want us to thank them....

for not paying Euro prices here.

[warrens]

34. Is he claiming they were going broke at $25 a barrel?

What a laugh. Every time OPEC prices go up, their reserves become worth that much more. The higher the prices the better for big oil. As Greg Palast points out, the Iraq war was about oil, but not about stealing but about making sure it doesn't get pumped. They're probably paying the insurgents to blow up the pipelines, because the less the Iraqis sell, the higher the prices go and the more money the oil companies make on the same amount of oil they routinely sell. If demand remains relatively constant, you can make a heck of a lot more per sale at $3 a gallon than you can at $1.

And if you look at their results in 2003, 2004, and 2005, you'll have all the evidence you need.

[bluebottle]

44. Nah at $25 a barrel = huge profit$ on chemicals, plastics, asphalt etc.

It seems the profit for an oil company is all swings and roundabouts but they can make a profit on either end of the price meter!

[Tight_rope]

36. Uhh...This is just a pre-warning that the price of gas is going up!

[and-justice-for-all]

47. Fuck the Oil Barons...

Ok, now they are making a claim that EUROPE has higher gas prices but the dont tell you that 80% of the population uses public transit and trains to get everywhere. Unlike the US where everything is spralled out, Europe is NOT. Also, the dont drive gas guzzlers like we here is the states do and they get around 40 to 50 miles a gallon...

I have German bud, goes to school in Indiana. Well he just went home for 6 weeks and what did he do besides see his lover and family? Well he flew to Spain for oh.. $100.00 round trip.!

Europe isnt as dependent upon Fossil fuel as we are, yes they do use it. But the reason its as high as it is stated in the article is because they use less of it so they oil companies charge them more to get more out of them when they do have to get gas..

The article is misleading..Its a "Oh, its not so bad, look what their paying" bullshit line..WE ARE GETTING SCREWED....You really dont want to know how much gas is in South America, but I will tell you anyway, last I checked it was around $1.25 a gallon if not cheaper.

[Joe Bacon]

51. Ah, another fool floating in his LASSEIZ FAIRYLAND...

Incredible, this circle jerk floats up in the rarefied air of his LASSEIZ FAIRYLAND with his Republican pals. Isn't this the same twit who Jack Cafferty skewered about saying America doesn't need energy independence?

[w4rma]

52. Our great and wonderful overlords have spoken. (nt)