Oil execs ask Congress to allow more U.S. drilling

WASHINGTON – Oil executives today challenged lawmakers to open more areas to drilling and send a signal to the world about the United States’ resolve to deal with its own energy problems.

“If the nation set a goal of increasing domestic production by 2 (million) to 3 million barrels a day by opening up new sources of exploration and production, we could demonstrate to the world that we are in control of our own destiny,” Shell Oil Co. President John Hofmeister told a Senate panel today.


Granting greater accesss, Hofmeister argued, coupled with Congress’ previous actions to increase use of renewable fuels and to raise fuel mileage requirements, could help avoid awkward scenarios in which U.S. leaders ask producing nations to produce more and get “an unresponsive reply.”

Just last week, President Bush was unsuccessful in persuading Saudi Arabia to crank up its oil output significantly.

Chevron Vice Chairman Peter Robertson argued that the United States can’t expect other countries to increase their production “when we limit our development without good reason.”

“As repetitive and uninteresting as it may sound, the fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work,” Hofmeister told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Oil exporting nations are managing their natural resource development and production to supply their local and global markets in their own interest.”

Houston Chronicle