A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's for an energy task force in 2001 -- it shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco-Phillips, Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who bargained for a national energy policy, parts of which are now law and parts of which bring prices down in the months before a Federal election.
Senator Barbara Boxer is making rare appearances in Scarborough Country lately, calling attention to what appears on the surface to be profiteering by the major oil companies during a time of national crisis. Sen. Boxer is working on getting big oil executives to come back to Washington to appear before the Senate under oath to answer tough questions about the shortages and other supply problems that have driven gas prices to record highs in the wake of the Iraq War and recent natural disasters.
SCARBOROUGH: And yet Exxon has $39 billion in cash right now in reserves, and they are refusing to build refineries.
BOXER: That's right.
SCARBOROUGH: Why?
BOXER: Thank you for understanding this, Joe. This is a fact, because I think they want to control the supply. its as just simple as that. You know, Shell Oil had a refinery in Bakersfield. Listen to this. They said, we are shutting it down. It doesn't make money. That wasn't true. They said, we are shutting it down. We can't get a steady supply of crude oil. That wasn't true. They said, we are shutting it down, and there's no buyers. That wasn't true.
It was only because political leaders got together in the state and in the Congress and pressed them that they were forced to sell this refinery, and, by the way, the new buyer is very happy and supplying 2 percent of the gasoline for California. Now, I tried to press that yesterday, and the Shell person said, oh, we are just thrilled that its remained open.
2006-11-06
13:28:54
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6 answers
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rcabrave
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Politics