Jamie Court Oil Quotations

Representative Barton's legislation rolls out the red carpet for oil company profiteers who have intentionally reduced refining capacity to pump up profits to world record levels, ... Since deregulation in 1982, oil consumption has increased 33 percent, but oil companies have reduced refining capacity by about 10 percent. The answer is not more carrots for the industry, like gutting environmental laws and immunizing companies for the harm they cause, but sticks such as forcing companies to invest in beefing up refining capacity when it is needed. We need supply side regulation, not more supply side economics.

Without regulation of oil refiners, oil companies can use new tax breaks to create new product that they simply export to drive up prices in the U.S. once again, ... This industry needs a regulatory stick if it is to increase refining capacity and sell the product in the United States of America.

Oil company profiteering, not increased production costs, are the cause of the price spikes at the gasoline pump. Hurricane Katrina will only increase the probability of profiteering.

Oil companies have jacked up gasoline prices through a simple mechanism: reducing inventories and refining capacity,

This is a staggering profit and proof that we are being gouged by the oil industry.

This Earth Day we need to remember that Exxon will not spend its resources developing cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy without the government forcing it to do so. Californians at least will have a chance to vote on a November ballot measure that takes back oil companies' windfall profits for a state fund that will provide practical incentives to make alternative fuel vehicles more available and affordable. We cannot rely on oil companies to create cheaper and cleaner fuels. American oil companies like Exxon will never want us to use less oil.

They are supposed to compete and bring the lowest price to consumers. But the truth is that a small number of oil companies cheat by working together by artificially reducing supplies.

The Attorney General should make clear that if oil companies raise wholesale gasoline prices without cause then the companies will be prosecuted for gouging consumers at the pump since station owners have very little choice over how much they can charge,

In addition, the spot price is higher than most oil companies pay, since they either harvest their own crude or pay more stable and often much lower contract prices.

The Lockyer investigation should put oil industry executives on notice that they are going to have to answer tough questions about their role if the price of gasoline rises more than ten percent above pre-Katrina prices or above approximately $3.10 per gallon,