Oil Executives Deny Gas Overcharging

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-cong/2007/jul/25/072502615.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Oil executives denied that drivers are overpaying for gasoline because the fuel expands in hot weather and provides less energy per gallon.

"The idea that temperature adjustments will somehow give people more for their money simply does not take into account the realities of the gasoline market," Hugh Cooley, a vice president for Shell Oil Co., told a House hearing Wednesday.

An Exxon Mobil Corp. executive said gas station operators would have to pay to put into pumps new measuring devices that factor in temperature changes. Operators probably would pass the cost on "without any additional benefit to consumers," said Ben Soraci, the company's retail sales director.

Critics say that when drivers buy gasoline during hot weather, they are paying as much as $1.5 billion a year in overcharges. That amounts to 3 cents to 9 cents per gallon, depending on the pump price and the temperature, consumer advocates say.

<more>