Lawmakers took oil executives to task over record profits
BBC News: US oil firms come under pressure
Page last updated at 07:44 GMT, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 08:44 UK
US lawmakers have taken oil giants to task over the industry’s huge profits as ordinary Americans struggle with record fuel prices.
Executives from five oil companies were forced to explain why they should continue to receive $18bn in tax breaks when they made $138bn profits in 2007.
They were also criticised for not investing more in renewable energy.
In their defence, the executives said high oil prices were not their fault and the huge earnings were justified.
Executives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, BP and Royal Dutch Shell testified before a House of Representatives committee.
“Our earnings, although high in absolute terms, need to be viewed in the context of the scale and cyclical, long-term nature of our industry as well as the huge investment requirements,” said J.S. Simon, senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp.
“We depend on high earnings during the up cycle to sustain … investment over the long term, including the down cycles,” he said.
Exxon made $40bn last year, a record for a US company.
Oil prices recently hit a record high of $111.80 and this has translated into higher petrol prices.
Americans now pay a record $3.29 a gallon at the pump.
“On April Fool’s Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil,” Edward Markey, the Democratic congressman who chairs the Energy Committee, told the executives.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7325837.stm
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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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