Topic: Even oil companies executives admit we're getting screwed

[Metalhawk]

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. oil company executives told Congress oil prices should be between $35 a barrel and $90 a barrel, as they testified for the second time this year about record energy prices.

The price of oil should be ``somewhere between $35 and $65 a barrel,'' John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., the Houston-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said at a Senate hearing today. Other executives said prices should be as much as $90 a barrel.

Representatives of the five largest publicly traded oil companies appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on record energy prices. Appearing today alongside Hofmeister were representatives of BP Plc, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp.

Crude oil futures contracts touched $133.82 a barrel today on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since trading began in 1983. Average U.S. retail gasoline prices hit a record $3.791 a gallon this week, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

Congress last week approved legislation to halt deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in an effort to respond to record prices.

Today's committee hearing marks the second time the executives have gathered to testify before Congress this year, after an April 1 hearing of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

`No Idea'

John Lowe, executive vice president of ConocoPhillips, said the price should be ``about $90 a barrel in this environment.''

J. Stephen Simon, senior vice president for Exxon Mobil, said he had ``no idea what the price should be today.'' He testified in April that historical market fundamentals pointed to a $50 a barrel to $55 a barrel oil price.

Peter Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron, said he thought the price was higher than the $35 to $65 figure cited by Hofmeister. He declined to give an exact number.

Robert Malone, president of BP America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of London-based BP, said ``an oil price in the range of $60'' would be profitable for his company.

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing with the same executives tomorrow.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=actpv8pjkuWQ&refer=energy

[Broken Bones]

So we have one guy who is giving a range of $35-65, a few others he is saying that is wrong but that they won't give their idea as to what the prices should be, and then you have another guy stating that $60 is profitable, so just why the **** are we paying so much more?

[stone169]

Well here's hoping that the American congress does something about it and then Canada follows suit.

[PuckFancy]

So we have one guy who is giving a range of $35-65, a few others he is saying that is wrong but that they won't give their idea as to what the prices should be, and then you have another guy stating that $60 is profitable, so just why the **** are we paying so much more?

Here's a hint: It starts with a G and ends with a D....

[Metalhawk]

I actually posted this a week or two ago. Good article explaining the artificial ballooning of oil prices.

http://www.star-telegram.com/ed_wallace/story/541726.html

[thirstymoose_2000]

so just why the **** are we paying so much more?

because we are paying

[rbochan]

Here's a hint: It starts with a G and ends with a D....

[classmate]

because we are paying

Some people, like myself, have no public transportation to get around.  Living in a small town, I have no choice but to pay the high prices so my husband and I can get to work.  We can however, and do, spend more time at home now then before.  Sucks, I can't imagine being young and just starting out now with these prices. 

[Broken Bones]

Some people, like myself, have no public transportation to get around.  Living in a small town, I have no choice but to pay the high prices so my husband and I can get to work.  We can however, and do, spend more time at home now then before.  Sucks, I can't imagine being young and just starting out now with these prices. 

It sucks, it is a swift kick to the nuts each time I have to fill up. When I got my first car 5 years ago it cost me about $40 to fill and that was just after the "big spike" of rising gas prices, by the time I got rid of it last year the same car cost $60 to fill.

When I got my new car, it cost $38 to fill, within a years time it now costs me $48!  Now I think I get decent gas mileage (7 to 8L/100KM), but this just sucks as pretty soon it seems a change in jobs would be needed or moving (which we do not want to do) may be needed as right now I drive 35km one way to work!

You do not want to know what my Odometer reads after having my car for only 14 months, it is a good thing I did not lease!

[classmate]

It sucks, it is a swift kick to the nuts each time I have to fill up. When I got my first car 5 years ago it cost me about $40 to fill and that was just after the "big spike" of rising gas prices, by the time I got rid of it last year the same car cost $60 to fill.

When I got my new car, it cost $38 to fill, within a years time it now costs me $48!  Now I think I get decent gas mileage (7 to 8L/100KM), but this just sucks as pretty soon it seems a change in jobs would be needed or moving (which we do not want to do) may be needed as right now I drive 35km one way to work!

You do not want to know what my Odometer reads after having my car for only 14 months, it is a good thing I did not lease!

Should I  tell you when I got out of college, it took less then $15 to fill my car up with gas.  Yes, gas was less then $1.00 per gallon.      I remember saying, "I'll never pay over a dollar a gallon of gas."    Guess that goes to show how old I am.     

[Broken Bones]

I remember back in the day when my mom would bitch and moan because gas was at $0.45/liter.

[thirstymoose_2000]

I remember back in the day when my mom would bitch and moan because gas was at $0.45/liter.

Yeah, when I started driving it was around .35. 

[Metalhawk]

I don't think the issue with most people is the actual price, but how fast it actually rose. Everything costs more today than it did 20 years ago, but we're talking about price of gas doubling within a couple of years. I believe that's why people are upset, not the price itself.

[classmate]

     As well as other necessities out there.   

[PuckFancy]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8668319287834598272&q=&hl=en

"Lindsey Williams, who has been an ordained Baptist minister for 28 years, went to Alaska in 1971 as a missionary. The Transalaska oil pipeline began its construction phase in 1974, and because of Mr. Williams' love for his country and concern for the spiritual welfare of the "pipeliners," he volunteered to serve as Chaplain on the pipeline, with the subsequent full support of the Alyeska Pipeline Company. Because of the executive status accorded to him as Chaplain, he was given access to information documented in his eye opening book, The Energy Non-Crisis. After numerous public speaking engagements in the western states, certain government officials and concerned individuals urged Mr. Williams to put into print what he saw and heard, stating that they felt this information was vital to national security. Mr. Williams firmly believes that whoever controls energy controls the economy. Thus, The Energy Non-Crisis. For info on what we can do to put a stop to what the global elites are doing, please check out the Kick Them All Out Project http://www.KickThemAllOut.com"

This is something all of you interested in the big oil debate should take some time out to watch and listen. The man may sound like a conspiracy theorist but what he has to say is incredibly interesting and probably truthful.

[rose]

I don't think the issue with most people is the actual price, but how fast it actually rose. Everything costs more today than it did 20 years ago, but we're talking about price of gas doubling within a couple of years. I believe that's why people are upset, not the price itself.

Yep...that's my issue with the recent prices.  Everything goes up.....gas goes UP!!

[Metalhawk]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8668319287834598272&q=&hl=en

I will definitely watch it when I have an hour of spare time.

[Metalhawk]

Oil has dropped over $8 a barrel in 2 days, yet the prices at the pump are not moving. But every little rise in the oil prices send the price at the stations up to new highs though. 

[rose]

Oil has dropped over $8 a barrel in 2 days, yet the prices at the pump are not moving. But every little rise in the oil prices send the price at the stations up to new highs though. 

You noticed that too, eh?   

[Metalhawk]

You noticed that too, eh?   

This is reminding me of the tech bubble in a way. When it finally bursts, all the investors that put their family fortune in oil will end up on the street. Mark my words.