Business comment
By Damian Reece, City Editor
Last Updated: 12:03am GMT 20/01/2007
Nancy Pelosi has wasted no time in setting out the Democrats’ agenda for business. As House Speaker, she has capped a feverish start to her time in the limelight by seeing through a Bill aimed fairly and squarely at Big Oil. Ending tax breaks, and slapping a new conservation fee on oil companies that refuse to renegotiate leases, is aimed at raising $14bn (£7bn) from oil companies over 10 years.
The measures still need to go before the Senate and the President but for energy company chief executives, the prospect is clear. The US is becoming a more hostile place to do business after years of benign oversight by the Republicans. That factor is just one more problem facing the industry which is once again having to learn how to cope with falling oil prices and production, not to mention greater scrutiny on safety.