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1. Myth--Oil companies gouge the public.
Fact: comparative pricing of a gallon:
Gasoline is $1.50 (includes 41 cents excise
taxes) while soft drinks are about $2.00; bot-
tled water is about $2.30 and milk is about
$2.90. The latter three do not include taxes.
Since 1977, the gasoline pump price is up 38
percent, while the Consumer Price Index is
up 300 percent, according to the Oil and Gas
Journal-- 2002 Almanac.
2. Myth--Oil companies do not pay a fair
share of taxes.
Fact: The national average gasoline pump
price includes 41 cents per gallon in just ex-
cise taxes, which the average citizen is totally
unaware of. Tax amounts to $84.6 billion per
year, or two and one half time the combined
profitability of the 200 largest U.S. oil and
gas companies.
3. Myth--Oil companies make obscene
profits.
Fact: The industry is struggling through a 20
year depression. Profit margins are below the
average of other industries and well-known
companies have disappeared due to financial
failures or mergers. Employee have been
hard hit, as more than 350,000 men and
women (52 percent of the industry work
force) have had to seek career employment
elsewhere.
4. Myth--Oil is a "Giant" owned by
"Them."
Fact: The major oil companies are publicly
held, not privately owned by a few of
"Them." Millions of Americans have secure
investments in the oil industry to fund count-
less trusts, savings and retirement accounts,
pension funds and life insurance policies for
retirees, teachers, government workers, wid-
ows and others.
Myths and Facts A bout The Oil Industry
by Wayne E. Sw earingen
5. Myth--Oil companies destroy the environ-
ment.
Fact: Oil companies spend 8 billion dollars an-
nually in environmental research, prevention
and related areas, which exceeds the annual
budget to the EPA. Oil companies co-exist with
the environment under "fishbowl" scrutiny. P e-
troleum operators were environmentalists before
that term was "cool."
6. Myth -- Foreign oil is cheap.
Fact: America's dependency on foreign oil has
doubled since 1984 and is now 60 percent of
our needs and increasing. We are vulnerable
and controlled by foreign oil pricing. Almost
two of every three gallons of gasoline are im-
ported, with much of it coming from countries
that hate America. Some us e the money to
fund terrorists. Also, it cost the U.S. military
$33 billion a year to protect oil exported from
the Middle East during peace time. Your
friends and your elected representatives need to
be reminded that adequate energy at affordable
prices is essential to a free and prosperous
America.
Source:
Investment Perspectives, The Trust
Company of Oklahoma, October, 2003, p.3.
Wayne Swearingen has been active in educating
the public about energy and was one of the
founders of the Energy Advocates