Oil Companies Facing Backlash Over Huge Profits
arge multinational oil companies are facing a backlash from Congress and the public over huge profits they have recently declared following record prices in the past two months, news services reported.
Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times had front-page stories Friday on the backlash, which has been prompted by such oil giants as ExxonMobil Corp. recording third-quarter net income of $9.9 billion on revenue of $100.7 billion, a 75% increase over a year ago.
That was among the highest quarterly profit of any company in history, the Journal said, and was the equivalent of a per-minute profit of almost $75,000.
Shell, the No. 3 oil company behind ExxonMobil and Britain’s BP, saw its third-quarter net income rise 68% to $9 billion, the Journal reported.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) Thursday asked the chairmen of three Senate committees to investigate high energy prices and said he might support a federal anti-gouging law, the Journal said.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told a Senate panel the Bush administration is considering taking steps to stockpile refined products such as gasoline and diesel, the Journal reported.
Politicians already under pressure from the public over high prices in September and October following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may face more pressure this winter as heating oil and natural gas prices are expected to spike, the New York Times said in its story.
Diesel and heating oil are both distillate fuels and their prices often parallel each other in the winter.
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