Energy

Oil industry unapologetic as profits soar;

April 29, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Motorists fume, Congress squirms</h3><p class="source">Associated Press</p> <p>Outspoken oil industry critic Doug Heller is hopeful the latest news about oil industry profits will finally persuade lawmakers to impose a windfall tax a notion Bush rejected on Friday. "The only thing more shocking than these profits is the prices that motorists are being forced to pay at the pump," said Heller, executive director of the Foundation For Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "It's hard to imagine that these numbers won't rattle the cages pretty severely."</p>

Amid profits outcry, a price lull;

April 29, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Modest increases, and some declines, reported at pumps</h3><p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune</p> <p>Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica noted that Chevron yesterday reported a 260 percent gain in profits from its refinery operations in the United States. Overall, the company posted a 49 percent increase in first-quarter profits from all operations. "If the rise in gasoline prices were attributed to crude oil increases, it would be a pass through," Heller said. "We would be paying more but they would not be reporting these big profits."</p>

Chevron Posts 49% Increase in Profit;

April 29, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A consumer group accuses the company of profiteering after it reports earnings of $4 billion, boosted by oil extraction and refining.</h3><p class="source">The Los Angeles Times</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights on Friday accused Chevron of profiteering. The company's latest financial report is "proof that retail gasoline prices are rising far faster than the cost of production, despite all the oil company excuses about the price of crude oil," the Santa Monica consumer activist group said.</p>

Huge Exxon profits spark anger;

April 28, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Even with calls for probes and legislation, analysts see supply, demand issue.</h3><p class="source"> Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Exxon Mobil's profits, covering the January-March quarter, prompted charges of "oil company profiteering" from the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. And although he didn't mention Exxon Mobil's quarterly report, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced Thursday he would subpoena documents from the state's 21 oil refineries to see whether the companies "are profiteering and gouging consumers."</p>

ENERGY EARNINGS;

April 28, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Exxon Mobil makes case for big profits</h3><p class="source">The Houston Chronicle</p> <p>The nonprofit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights declared in a report Thursday that skyrocketing gasoline prices are due to oil company profiteering, rather than the world price of crude oil. It was hardly the ideal day for the biggest U.S. oil company to report that its net income rose to $8.4 billion in the first quarter, or $1.37 per share, compared with $7.9 billion, or $1.22 per share, in the year-earlier period.</p>

Chevron profit up 49 percent as oil industry draws more ire

April 28, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Agence France Presse</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocacy group, said Chevron's report showed a 260 percent increase in its US refining and sales profits, "further proof that retail gasoline prices are rising far faster than the cost of production, despite oil company excuses about the price of crude oil."</p>

Exxon Mobil: How much is too much profit?

April 27, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)</p> <p>"The extreme run-up in pump prices since the beginning of April isn't even reflected here," said Judy Dugan of the nonprofit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "It will almost certainly push profits for Exxon and other refiners to yet another record. The companies need to be held responsible for their excessive refinery profits and their tight control over refinery output, which allows them to get away with this pricing."</p>

ExxonMobil draws more fire with 8.4 billion dollar profit

April 27, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Agence France Presse</p> <p>"ExxonMobil's report of a record 8.4 billion dollars in first-quarter profits demonstrates that skyrocketing gasoline prices are due to oil company profiteering, rather than the price of crude oil," according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocacy group.</p>

Big Oil donates big bucks to Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign

April 26, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE</p> <p>The oil companies aren't the only ones benefiting from the price spike, says Doug Heller of the Arnold watchdog group Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. The state has reaped a $100 million-plus sales tax windfall since the start of the year, he said.</p>

Pump prices stuck on ‘up’

April 25, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune (California)</p> <p>"Of the 60-cent increase in gasoline prices this year, 42 cents is entirely attributable to refiner profits," said Doug Heller of the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights. "That's not a supply issue or a crude issue. It's a gouging issue." The foundation is calling for a windfall profits tax on the industry, among other measures.</p>

U.S. oil companies under fire as gasoline prices soar

April 25, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Agence France Presse</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in a recent report on California prices -- among the country's highest -- said the link between crude prices and the price of gasoline at the pump was questionable.</p>

Gas prices fuel outrage

April 23, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, Connecticut)</p> <p>Exxon Mobil Corp. invested only $10 million last year on direct research on alternative energy while reaping a record $36 billion in profits. Meanwhile, it handed its retiring chief executive officer a nearly half-billion-dollar parachute, according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>