Oil Company Executives Defend Profits in Senate Hearing
he heads of five major oil companies defended the petroleum industry's huge profits at a Senate hearing Wednesday where lawmakers said oil firms should explain prices and assure consumers they are not being gouged at the pump, news services reported.
There is a "growing suspicion” that oil companies are taking unfair advantage of people, said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) as the hearing opened, the Associated Press reported. The companies owe the country an explanation, Domenici said.
ee Raymond, chairman of Exxon Mobil Corp., said he recognizes that high gasoline prices have strained Americans’ budgets, but defended his company’s record profits, saying petroleum earnings rise and fall from year to year, AP said.
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, AP said.
