YOU ALL SUCK for your complacency during this fuel crisis. There is no god damn way a hurricane can magically increase oil prices; I don't give a damn where the refineries are located. HERE IS THE INCONTROVERTIBLE PROOF:
By H. JOSEF HEBERT, buttociated Press Writer 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The chiefs of five major oil companies defended the industry's huge profits Wednesday at a Senate hearing where lawmakers said they should explain prices and butture people they're not being gouged. ADVERTISEMENT
There is a "growing suspicion that oil companies are taking unfair advantage," Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., said as the hearing opened in a packed Senate committee room.
"The oil companies owe the country an explanation," he said.
Lee Raymond, chairman of Exxon Mobil Corp., said he recognizes that high gasoline prices "have put a strain on Americans' household budgets" but he defended his companies huge profits, saying petroleum earnings "go up and down" from year to year.
ExxonMobil, the worlds' largest privately owned oil company, earned nearly $10 billion in the third quarter. Raymond was joined at the witness table by the chief executives of Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BPAmerica and Shell Oil USA.
Together the companies earned more than $25 billion in profits in the July-September quarter as the price of crude oil hit $70 a barrel and gasoline surged to record levels after the disruptions of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Raymond said the profits are in line with other industries when profits are compared to the industry's enormous revenues.
