Posted on 05/28/2011 8:01:22 AM PDT by Conservative Coulter Fan
(CNSNews.com) -- Armed with a Power Point presentation to illustrate the state of American energy, John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute (API), said the majority of “big oil” and natural gas ownership is in good hands – the hands of the American people.
According to a report published in 2007 by Sonecon, an economic advisory firm that analyses U.S. markets and public policy, corporate management owns only 1.5 percent of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry.
The rest is owned by tens of millions of Americans through retirement accounts (14 percent) and pension funds (26 percent). Mutual funds or other firms account for 29.5 percent ownership and individual investors own 23 percent of oil stock holdings.
Institutional investors hold the remaining 5 percent.
Felmy spoke on Thursday to the National Economists Club in Washington, D.C., about the range of conditions that affect the cost of gasoline at the pump. Some of those include decisions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, geo-political conditions, speculation, inventories, exchange rates and inflation and even the weather.
As for the profits made by U.S. oil and natural gas companies that have been cited by congressional Democrats as reason to end tax incentives for the industry, Felmy put those earnings in perspective when it comes to high gasoline prices.
“If you took 100 percent of the earnings of the oil industry, you’d save 30 cents on the gallon,” Felmy said.
(AP photo)
Moreover, compared to other American industries, the oil and natural gas industry’s profit margin are mid-range compared to other industries – 5.7 percent for each dollar, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data.
Those industries making much higher net income/sales percentages on the dollar include beverage and tobacco products (21.7 percent), pharmaceuticals (19.4 percent), computer and peripheral equipment (17.3 percent) and chemicals (14.7 percent).
Felmy’s Power Point presentation included an image of a one dollar bill showing what American consumers are paying for with that dollar at the pump: 68 percent for crude oil and 18 percent on refining and retailing.
Fourteen percent of each dollar Americans spend at the pump goes to the federal government in the form of excise taxes.
Even more interesting, it is the Federal Government who owns most of the oil in this country.
This article misses the elephant in the room.
National Oil Companies (NOC) accounted for 52% global oil production and controlled 88% of proven oil reserves as of 2007. A NOC is an oil company where the majority ownership is held by a national government, such as Petrobras, Aramco, or Gazprom.
International Oil Companies (IOC) such as ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, or BP are in the minority and on the decline in terms of power and influence, including outside their national borders.
And I think we all know which truly does not have US interests at heart.
Remember the days when the feds broke up Standard oil for being so greedy and evil?.
Hess Oil Venezuela plant on St.CroixPump Prices Expected to Fall as Hovensa Lowers Rack Rate
After months of rising prices that took the cost of gasoline in the territory to the $4-a-gallon range, Hovensa announced Tuesday that it was lowering its rack rate.
The rack rate is the wholesale price of fuel purchased directly from the refinery’s truck-loading station on St. Croix. The rate influences retail gasoline prices in the territory because independent gas station operators can buy their gasoline at the loading station, then resell it to their customers.
The rate change was announced in an email from a company official. No one from the company was available to the Source for comment Tuesday.
According to the announcement, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline has dropped 33 cents, or 9.24 percent, from $3.57 to $3.24.
The price of a gallon of premium-grade gasoline dropped 25 cents, or 7 percent, from $3.68 to $3.43.
Standard Oil never had than 70 percent of the market and by the time came when the government was attempting to break them up under anti-trust laws, they had a smaller share of the market. In reality, the notion of a monopoly as defined by anti-trust laws is a complete myth and they’ve never existed. Standard Oil never cornered the market and it always continued to lower it’s price for oil...it was selling below the competitor’s cost...not their own. It’s like the ALCOA case in the late 30s...a Federal judge decreed they were too productive and innovative thereby violating anti-trust laws by having such a large share of the aluminum market...go figure.
Indeed so much for the free market.
Who Owns ‘Big Oil'? If we own a mutual fund, the answer is, we all own big oil? and big pharm, big insurance, big business and medium and small business too. It's great to be an American, a capitalist and an investor.
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