NYT: Big Rise in Profit Places Oil Giants on the Defensive

[DeepModem Mom]

Big Rise in Profit Places Oil Giants on the Defensive
By JAD MOUAWAD and SIMON ROMERO
Published: October 28, 2005


....This year is shaping up as an exceptionally lucrative one for the oil industry, thanks to strong global demand, tight supplies and high prices for oil and natural gas. While the idea that the Bush administration was considering imposing a windfall profits tax was knocked down yesterday by officials, longstanding resentments against Big Oil are resurfacing and could end up imposing some additional burdens on the industry.

The sense that government should step in to curb the phenomenal wealth and power often enjoyed by oil companies goes back to Exxon Mobil's corporate ancestor from the late 19th century, the Rockefeller oil trust known as Standard Oil.

Today, Republicans and Democrats alike, aware of the politically sensitive issue of high energy prices, are putting increasing pressure on the oil and gas industry to return some of its profits. The ideas include forcing the industry to invest in more refining capacity, to increase inventories to cushion energy shocks, or to provide money directly to the government program that helps low-income people pay heating bills.

Simmering resentment of the oil industry has heated up as gas lines reappeared in some cities this summer and gas prices rose above $3 a gallon, a record even when adjusted for inflation. Gasoline prices, already well above what Americans are accustomed to, spiked after two Gulf Coast hurricanes curbed domestic production and briefly pushed oil prices above $70 a barrel....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/business/28oil.html

[shoelace414]

1. I wonder how nice of a refiinery 1 billion could make.

[fed-up]

2. I wonder how many solar panels $1 Billion could buy-our local Chevron

recently installed solar panels on their roof. The local junior college and the county administration building have also recently gone solar.

I still buy my gas at the local Cit-go

[Squatch]

9. How far could that same money go into alternative energy sources?

[kurth]

3. That's what ya get for electing Texas Republicans

Hastert (R-Ill.) went on TV and said the oil companies needed to do a better job at COMMUNICATING. So the assholes bought some newspaper ads, which were full of lies and misrepresentations.

There were no Democrats on TV, only your run-of-the-mill consumer advocates. Where were the Democrats??? This is a major issue, and all I saw was Republicans feigning sympathy and disappointment. Fucking assholes.

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Washington Post: ...By most familiar comparisons, the $9.92 billion profit earned by Exxon Mobil Corp. in just three months is almost unimaginable. It would cover all Social Security benefit payments for three months. It would pay for an Ivy League education for about 60,000 kids. It would pay the average list price for more than 160 Boeing 737s. It would fund the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than two months...

[underpants]

4. No one seemed concerned a few years ago when they all LOST money

I asked this yesterday but I am asking again just to see if anyone knows where this RW talking point comes from or if there is anything to back it up.

[jwirr]

10. I have no details but I suspect they are referring to the fact

that when the U.S. oil production reached peak a lot of Texas companies had to go out of business. bushie was probably one of those companies.

[FloridaPat]

5. How about eliminating gov't subsidies for the oil companies? Why are

we footing the bill for oil exploration and drilling?

[FloridaPat]

6. Isn't this a ton of money also going to the Middle East countries and Iraq

They should be awash with cash. So why is this invasion costing 1/2 billion more a week? Especially since everything is going so well?

[tabasco]

7. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !

The corporate elite have once again duped the American people into a war for profits.

HOW MANY WILL IT BE THIS TIME AROUND??

[Supersedeas]

8. Exactly and the Energy Bill makes the profits....more sustainable

[Miss Chybil]

11. Oil Industry Under Fire As It Posts Billions in Profits

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1028oil28outrage.html

Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 28, 2005 12:00 AM

Reaction to major oil producers' staggering profits ranges from rage at the pumps to calls for profits to be reinvested in exploration, alternative-energy research or simply returned somehow to the public.

Exxon Mobile Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday that it earned an industry record $9.9 billion in this year's third quarter, $4.2 billion, or 74 percent, more than it earned a year earlier. Other companies have reported similar results.

But the soaring oil and gasoline prices that are the source of the oil company's third-quarter profits have created hardships for consumers and eaten away at the profits of many businesses. Some economists believe they will lead to an economic slowdown and possibly a recession.

The oil companies assert that their profits are no larger than other businesses and that they just look big because it is a big business.

more...
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1028oil28outrage.html

[hippiegranny]

12. 'bout time

I'll tell ya, if this doesn't perfectly illustrate the culture of corruption, I don't know what does.

[Blaq Dem]

13. It's nothing that a simple PRICE CAP can't fix

Since these sick bastards can't regulate themselves...

[DemoTex]

14. Cheney's secret energy task force ..

Maybe it shouldn't be secret anymore. Eh?

[rkc3]

21. High gasoline prices are...

a sign of a failed presidency.

Dick Cheney
Campaign stop, 1999

[frylock]

15. i am so damn ready for the revolution..

shit like this cannot continue. :grr::rant::mad:

[bleedingheart]

16. And yet they going to receive more of our TAX DOLLARS!!

what a crock...

[Miss Chybil]

17. Further down in the article...

"Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard also has called on Congress to look into the oil industry profits, particularly in light of the tax breaks the industry was awarded in the recently passed energy bill.

'The energy bill has billions of dollars in benefits for oil companies, and they show their gratitude to consumers by cranking prices through the roof,' Goddard said."

[Mr. Streisand]

20. I know who to thank for high prices

Somebody has to speak out and stop these criminals. this is from the thanksalotW web site

[xxqqqzme]

18. and they have yet 2 pay

ONE CENT for the Alaskan oil spill!

[Fovea]

19. Nationalize it!

We need the money, and they helped put America behind the 8 ball.
Nationalize Oil, for economic justice and for our future.

[NuttyFluffers]

22. Amen

i second your opinion.