1-05-07 by dugan
Tyson Slocum, who runs the energy program at Public Citizen with Joan Claybrook, is an oil industry analyst who writes with great clarity. This report, "Hot Profits, Global Warming," was written a year ago, but you can just add 25% to all the profit and sotck buyback numbers to make it perfectly current. The report is also good preparation for news of third-quarter oil company profits, due in a few weeks. It’s a large pdf file but a smooth read. For instance:
"Under the current market framework, oil companies aren’t making the investments
necessary to solve our addiction to oil and never will. With $1 trillion in assets tied up in
extracting, refining and marketing oil, their business model will squeeze the last cent of
profit out of that sunk capital for as long as possible. The oil industry’s significant
presence on Capitol Hill ensures that the government does not threaten their monopoly
over energy supply through funding of alternatives to oil. For example, energy legislation
signed by President Bush in August 2005 provides $5 billion in new financial subsidies to
oil companies."
To say nothing of the inability of even a Democratic-controlled new Congress to pull back those subsidies….