WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) — The president of Shell Oil said Tuesday if Americans cut their gas consumption slightly, there would be a significant drop in prices.
However, said John Hofmeister, the current political leadership refuses to actively promote conservation as an antidote to high prices, despite industry briefings that lay out the potential savings.
“If we could conserve even 5 percent of gasoline we would see in a period of six to eight weeks a significant difference in the price of gas,” Hofmeister told the Infragard National Conference, a critical infrastructure protection convention in Washington. “The political leadership has chosen not to actively promote conservation. So we continue to produce to demand and that’s what keeps prices up,” Hofmeister said.
The effect is that the nation and world are consuming gas at almost exactly the rate that oil companies can pump and refine it, leaving no buffer of untapped reserves — known as “supply overhang” — in the event of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina or a terrorist attack on the energy infrastructure. Moreover, the unabated demand puts continuous upward pressure on the price paid at the pump.
The sharp increase in U.S. gas consumption is directly related to the popularity of gas guzzling SUVs and pick up trucks, as well as a reduction in refinery capability the occurred a decade ago and has not been restored.
Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed conservation as a viable government strategy to the nation’s energy problems in a speech in 2001, when gas was reaching about $2 a gallon.
“Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy,” Cheney said.
Cheney said the issue had to be addressed by increasing the supply of energy.
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060822-031842-5588r
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
