Senate may tighten laws on oil firms

Lawmakers to meet today with oil chiefs, who will attempt to justify their $118 billion in profits for 2005

Legislation that would respond to recent record oil company profits by tightening up antitrust laws for the petroleum industry will be the subject of a hearing today by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The hearing will give senators a chance to confront the chief executives of six oil companies that posted a collective profit of $118 billion in 2005. The executives, challenged to justify those profits, are expected to respond by emphasizing their important economic role as energy suppliers and downplaying their profitability.

But some of those executives sang a different tune last week when they met with financial analysts in New York City.

Executives of industry leader Exxon Mobil and San Ramon-based Chevron celebrated high profit rates and assured investors that oil output and profits would continue to grow — despite declining production of existing oil fields and the growing costs and challenges of finding more reserves.

Contra Costa Times