The Oil Drum

A good bit of this story was originally posted on September 6, 2005, when the politicians first began talking about price gouging and windfall profits taxes after the price rise due to Katrina--and was put together by SuperG, Yankee, and one of our old contributors who was an industry "insider." Since we're back where we started, yet again (we also re-ran this post on April 25, 2006, I thought this post should resurface just one more time. (You can go back to the dated link above for the old comments.)

(By the way, we're not the only ones noticing a cycle of talking about gas price gouging, go to EE and check this one out, it's a good one.)

Oh, and one more thing, can I yet again state my call for a gas tax (that I know won't happen, but I need a catharsis), just one more time? I've been doing it for three years, why stop now? (even if some would argue that it could be a regressive tax). Cheers, PG.

There's been some grumbling in the media about how Big Oil is gouging the public by charging record prices for gas while they reap record profits and "gouge" consumers. No one can dispute that oil companies are doing really well. And certainly no one can dispute that gas prices are high. But is the connection as straightforward as it gets portrayed in the media? If the oil companies were less greedy, would we see lower prices as the pump? Find out below the fold...

[editor's note, by Yankee] This story was originally posted on September 6, 2005, when the politicians first began talking about price gouging and windfall profits taxes after the price rise due to Katrina. Since we're back where we started, I thought this post should resurface. I would just like to remind everyone to look at the dates that comments were originally posted in order to keep your timelines straight.

There's been some grumbling in the media about how Big Oil is gouging the public by charging record prices for gas while they reap record profits. For example, this article from The Nation says

There is no evidence of a willingness on the part of these highly profitable corporations to sacrifice in a time of national emergency.

Make no mistake: These corporations should be able to absorb a hit. Over the past year and a half, the four largest oil companies—ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP Group PLC—have pocketed close to $100 billion in profits. During the first quarter of 2005 alone, those firms pulled in a cool $23 billion.

But instead of sharing the pain, they appear to be moving to squeeze every cent they can out of the crisis.

No one can dispute that oil companies are doing really well. And certainly no one can dispute that gas prices are high. But is the connection as straightforward as the article suggests? If the oil companies were less greedy, would we see lower prices as the pump?

Find out below the fold...