Oil Companies

It was close to 2 a.m. when Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and others on a House-Senate conference committee saw just how much clout the oil industry had when it came to winning special tax breaks and other financial benefits from Congress. At issue was the 2005 Energy Policy Act — the largest energy bill in years. The committee chairman, Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Texas), a friend of the industry, had saved some big issues for the end: billions of dollars in tax and royalty relief to encourage drilling for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico and other offshore areas.

SACRAMENTO — Nearly a year after a Kern County oil worker was sucked underground and boiled to death, state authorities have turned to the two leading oil companies involved in the incident to investigate it. On Monday, the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources released a report outlining the circumstances of the worker's death, and subsequent oil spills and eruptions, in a field where Chevron and another operator were using steam extraction....

Late last year, Gov. Jerry Brown pushed for a top state regulator to ease key requirements for companies seeking to tap California's oil. The official balked. Relaxing rules on underground injection, a risky method of oil extraction common in the state, would violate environmental laws, wrote Derek Chernow, then head of the Department of Conservation, in a memo obtained by The Times. The process, in which a rush of steam, water and chemicals flushes oil from old wells, had been linked to spills, eruptions and a Kern County worker's death.

With energy prices high, Big Oil rules atop the Fortune 500, helping to put Texas just a hair behind California as home to the highest-revenue corporations -- 52 firms, compared with the Golden State's 53. The magazine's latest list of mega-enterprises, released Monday, showed Exxon Mobil in the Dallas suburb of Irving edging out Wal-Mart Stores for the top spot, with 2011 revenue of $453 billion, compared with $447 billion at the Arkansas-based...

An attempt to roll back oil company tax breaks was blocked in the Senate, despite a Rose Garden push by President Obama, who said the big five oil companies are doing “just fine” as consumers struggle with painfully high gas prices at the pump. Republicans led opposition to the measure, but several Democrats from oil-rich states joined the GOP in a filibuster to prevent the legislation from advancing. The vote was 51-47, failing to reach the 60-vote threshold. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the GOP was "poised to pick the pockets of American taxpayers to line the pockets of these oil executives.

Gasoline prices are skyrocketing — and so are oil company profits. Exxon Mobil Corp. earned nearly $11 billion in the first three months of the year, a rollicking 69% increase over its performance for the same period last year. That's on sales of $114 billion. It's the same story for the other big oil companies. Royal Dutch Shell turned a profit of $6.3 billion in the first quarter, and BP — despite lingering costs from the Gulf Coast oil spill — made $7.1 billion. What they aren't making is fuel, at least not in normal quantities.

Some of the nation's biggest oil companies are looking at permanently reducing how much gasoline and diesel fuel they make, a move that analysts say would almost certainly trigger higher prices for drivers. Energy companies are suffering huge losses from refining because of slumping gasoline use -- a product of the economic downturn and changing consumer habits and preferences. Energy experts say refining cutbacks have begun and will accelerate as corporations strive for profits. Major refiners have been circumspect about their plans, saying that they are considering options that could include closing refineries, selling parts of their operations, laying off workers and slashing spending.

Energy companies across California are injecting a mysterious mix of chemicals into the ground to tap oil deposits while frustrating attempts to regulate the controversial process, known as hydraulic fracturing. The procedure has drawn the greatest attention in the Rocky Mountain West and Northeast, where states have debated moratoriums to develop regulations after toxic chemicals were found in nearby drinking water. But a quieter battle is being waged in the Golden State, which could be a candidate for increased "fracking" because of its unique geology.

The Justice Department signaled Tuesday that it may sue BP and other oil firms involved in the massive Gulf of Mexico spill for violating federal environmental laws, actions that could ultimately lead to heavy civil fines against the companies. If federal laws were found to have been deliberately broken, authorities could file federal criminal or civil charges against the companies, Justice Department officials said. "As we have said from the beginning, we are committed to ensuring that those responsible clean up the mess they made, restore or replace the natural resources lost or injured in this tragedy, and repay every cent of taxpayer money," said Hannah August, a Justice Department spokeswoman.

Re "Senators Turn Up Heat on Oil Executives," Nov. 10 Oil companies are in the business of making money from oil. Assuming that the companies didn't engage in any illegal activity, such as price collusion, the interrogation of oil execs by Congress appears to simply be an attempt by legislators to scapegoat big business for Congress' own inability and/or refusal to draft forward looking, responsible energy-related policies that would have promoted...

Chevron Corp. said first-quarter profit rose 4.2% as rising oil prices offset falling natural gas prices. Net income for the first three months of the year increased to $6.47 billion, or $3.27 a share, from $6.21 billion, or $3.09,a year earlier, the San Ramon, Calif., company reported Friday. Revenue for the world's third-largest publicly traded oil company rose to $60.71 billion, compared with $60.34 billion in the first quarter last year. The company's financial performance was hurt by a sharp year-to-year decline in natural gas prices, but that drop was more than offset by sharply higher oil prices.

The British, it seems, are not enamored of British Petroleum, even when it shells out big bucks to support the nation's greatest literary treasure. A group of actors staged their own protest play Monday night before a performance of "The Tempest" at Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, to express their displeasure with a sponsorship deal involving the oil giant. BP is supporting the World Shakespeare Festival, a joint venture between the Royal Shakespeare Co. and the Globe Theatre that is being billed as the biggest Shakespeare festival ever held.

BUENOS AIRES - With public opinion in Argentina firmly behind President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's plan to nationalize the country's largest oil company, Congress is expected this week to approve the takeover despite some analysts' warnings that her policies are economically reckless. Two nationwide polls released over the weekend showed 74% and 62%, respectively, of those questioned supported the president's proposal for Argentina to take a majority interest in YPF, whose largest shareholder is based in Spain.

Argentina's government made official its plan to take control of the nation's largest oil company, YPF, provoking a diplomatic crisis with Spain, where the company's largest shareholder is based. In a televised address from the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said she would ask the country's congress to approve a law to nationalize a 51% controlling interest of YPF, justifying it by declaring that oil production was in the national interest.

In a televised address to the nation from the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, President Cristina Fernandez said she would ask Argentina's  Congress to approve a law to nationalize a 51% controlling interest of oil company YPF, justifying it by declaring oil production as in the national interest.  What was not clear Monday was how much the government would pay to acquire the controlling interest and how soon. Shares of the company have fallen sharply since rumors of a nationalization began circulating several months ago, cutting the value of majority owner Repsol's investment by more than half.

WASHINGTON — The Senate blocked an effort to end billions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil industry, brushing aside President Obama's argument that the five big oil companies were doing "just fine" while consumers were struggling with painfully high gasoline prices. The measure to kill the industry tax preferences failed on a 51-47 procedural vote Thursday. It needed 60 votes to overcome a Republican-led filibuster that was supported by some Democrats from oil-rich states.

Oil and gas companies have told the Obama administration that environmental regulations for deep-water drilling rigs do not immediately need to be toughened because the Deepwater Horizon explosion was an unforeseeable event, not a failure of federal oversight, according to documents filed last week with the White House. The industry's chief lobbying arm, the American Petroleum Institute, submitted written comments to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The council is reviewing whether the federal Minerals Management Service — the now-splintered and much criticized agency charged with regulating oil drilling — has appropriately conducted reviews mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining payments by five big U.S. oil firms to officials of Equatorial Guinea and businesses they controlled, as government inquiries related to Riggs Bank proliferate. Spokesmen for the companies -- Amerada Hess Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. -- confirmed the preliminary investigation. At issue is whether U.S. anti-bribery laws were broken.

Upset about high gasoline prices? So are the folks in Congress -- they just have a different way of showing it. As Time staff writers Lisa Mascaro and Christi Parsons reported Thursday: “The Senate blocked an effort to end billions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil industry, brushing aside President Obama's argument that the five big oil companies were doing 'just fine' while consumers were struggling with painfully high gasoline prices.”...

President Obama on Thursday morning urged Congress to “stand with the American people” by voting to end subsidies to oil companies. “Right now, the biggest oil companies are raking in record profits,” Obama said. “On top of these record profits, oil companies are also getting billions a year in taxpayer subsidies.” Members of Congress can either “stand with the big oil companies,” Obama said, “or they can stand with the American people.” The appearance in the Rose Garden came minutes ahead of a procedural vote in the Senate on a bill to repeal oil subsidies.