FTCR Press Release: High Gas Prices = Big Oil Limiting Refining Capacity

[Montauk6]

NEWS RELEASE
September 7, 2005

CONTACT: Jamie Court [phone] ext 327 or Tim Hamilton [phone]

Internal Memos Show Oil Companies Intentionally Limited Refining Capacity To Drive Up Gasoline Prices

Santa Monica, CA -- The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) today exposed internal oil company memos that show how the industry intentionally reduced domestic refining capacity to drive up profits. The exposure comes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as the oil industry blames environmental regulation for limiting number of U.S. refineries.

The three internal memos from Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco show different ways the oil giants closed down refining capacity and drove independent refiners out of business. The confidential memos demonstrate a nationwide effort by American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying and research arm of the oil industry, to encourage the major refiners to close their refineries in the mid-1990s in order to raise the price at the pump.

"Large oil companies have for a decade artificially shorted the gasoline market to drive up prices," said FTCR president Jamie Court, who successfully fought" to keep Shell Oil from needlessly closing its Bakersfield, California refinery this year. Oil companies know they can make more money by making less gasoline. Katrina should be a wakeup call to America that the refiners profit widely when they keep the system running on empty."

"It's now obvious to most Americans that we have a refinery shortage," said petroleum consultant Tim Hamilton, who authored a recent report about oil company price gouging for FTCR. (Click here to read the report.) "To point to the environmental laws as the cause simply misses the fact that it was the major oil companies, not the environmental groups, that used the regulatory process to create artificial shortages and limit competition."

More
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/energy/pr/?postId=5110

Afterthought: Now, should MSM get brave and pick this up, will The Machine use this to, once again, blame the current woes on Bill Clinton?

[SammyBlue]

1. What? The oil companies are manipulating gas prices and production

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

Excuse me, did I say shocked. . .I meant completely not surprised.

[rodeodance]

2. i read this a few days ago but have not heard anything in the media

about it.

[rodeodance]

3. so, lets all media blast this story!

......Afterthought: Now, should MSM get brave and pick this up, will The Machine use this to, once again, blame the current woes on Bill Clinton?