Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:35 PM ET
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. drivers helped to boost Big Oil’s record profits more than their European counterparts, by paying more for gasoline once taxes were taken out at the pump, according to a report released on Thursday.
The report from the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights also showed that profit margins were much larger for multinational oil companies’ refinery operations in the United States than those located in Europe.
While gasoline costs more than $5 a gallon in Europe, most of that pump price reflects taxes. In the United States, federal and state fuel taxes account for a much smaller share of the cost for gasoline.
Based on retail gasoline prices in July, when taxes were taken out European drivers paid 24 cents a gallon less to fill up than their Americans, the study showed.
“Thus U.S. motorists are essentially subsidizing European drivers, who pay more for taxes but substantially less into oil company profits,” the report said.
The report also found that the refinery and marketing profits of Exxon Mobil
American consumers have become the “cash cows” for the international oil industry, the study said.
Unlike U.S. drivers, motorists in Europe and throughout the world have seen gasoline prices increase at a similar rate to the rise in crude oil costs, according to the report.
The study likened the disparities in U.S. and European gasoline prices to pricing in the pharmaceutical industry. “U.S. consumers pay the price for lower profit margins in the rest of the world. Lack of regulation and oversight allow the industry to discriminatingly inflate prices to U.S. customers,” the report said.
The mega-mergers of oil companies over the last decade have made it easier to charge unfair gasoline prices in the United States, according to the report.
The five largest oil companies controlled 35 percent of U.S. oil refining capacity in 1993, but that share jumped to 56 percent by 2004, the study said.
The oil industry has argued that mergers have helped companies reduce their operating costs and those savings are passed on to consumers.
Oil companies also say that high U.S. prices reflect strong motor fuel demand and expensive crude oil. The industry points out that recent government investigations have not found that oil companies acted together to keep pump prices high.
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
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.
