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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, 00:10 GMT | more >>

Big Oil takes a swipe at Congress



By Upstream staff 

Executives from major US E&P players, including Chevron and ExxonMobil, used a hearing of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming to hit out at attacks on the industry, calling for the right to drill in off-limits areas and criticising legislation in Congress to take away $18 billion in tax breaks from producers to subsidise renewable energy investments.

Record prices at the pump have continued to put the oil industry on the defensive against consumer groups and top congressional Democrats critical of Big Oil's profits, despite the fact high energy prices are helping to encourage clean-energy and alternative technology, a report published in the Wall Street Journal said.

"Stable tax and regulatory policies are essential to encouraging needed investments," JS Simon, senior vice president of ExxonMobil, said in prepared testimony before the House panel.

"Imposing punitive taxes on American energy companies, which already pay record taxes, will discourage the sustained investments needed to continue safeguarding US energy security," he added.

Chevron vice chairman Peter Robertson said the oil industry has been "urging greater access to US resources, onshore and offshore." But he said that "instead, we have been increasing our demand on exporting countries", and warned that "any serious measures toward energy security must seek to reverse this equation."

The chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming, Ed Markey, called the hearing amid voter frustration over record-high gasoline prices.

Democrats have been on the offensive against oil companies all year, criticizing the companies' record profits as drivers pay more at the pump and renewable-energy legislation languishes amid opposition from Republicans allied with the oil industry.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Simon as saying raising taxes on oil and gas production to subsidise alternatives "will likely lead to less overall energy production, not more".


Tuesday, 01 April, 2008, 19:25 GMT  | last updated: Tuesday, 01 April, 2008, 19:25 GMT

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