N. (San Diego) Co. Times: Send oil refiners' windfall to Katrina victims

[question everything]

Saturday, September 3, 2005

Send oil refiners' windfall to Katrina victims

By: North County Times - Editorial

Our View: The giant oil companies that control the nation's fuel supplies are making billions in windfall profits from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It's only fair that they should send this gusher of cash to Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to fund emergency aid and rebuilding efforts.

As of Friday, a few oil executives were talking about token donations of a million bucks or two. We call on them to ready billions of dollars in direct aid. The United States may soon enter an energy crisis to match that of the early 1970s. About two-thirds of the nation ---- California is an exception ---- is on the cusp of a true gasoline shortage.

(snip)

But crude oil has retreated from the record highs of early this week. Refiners who remain online are not experiencing higher costs. And in the normal course of business, they all had stockpiles before Monday, when Katrina struck. According to the Wall Street Journal, 8.2 billion gallons of gasoline were sitting in the nation's storage tanks as of Aug. 19.

In California, pump prices surged an average 20 cents a gallon this week because of market speculation that Katrina's damage would cut supplies. (Price hikes around the nation were higher, but let's give the oilies the benefit of a conservative estimate.) With an 8.2 billion-gallon inventory, that comes to an instant windfall of $1.64 billion for the nation's refiners. The Red Cross takes checks.

(snip)

We're talking about an instant jump in pure profits of close to $130 million in a single week ---- and that assumes their profit margins were reasonable before Katrina, a laughable concept. There is no gasoline shortage in California, no reason for prices to rise because Katrina wiped out production in the Gulf of Mexico. State politicians have launched yet another probe of the industry that will go nowhere. Instead, they should be demanding that oil refiners disgorge their obscene profits to help the millions of hurricane victims.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/09/03/opinion/editorials/21_08_499_2_05.txt

[Liberty Belle]

1. Kicked & nominated. Call your state legislators: hold big oil accountable

[klebean]

2. have been waiting to hear for this "call out" - n/t