The Associated Press - Senators Grill Oil Execs, Who Cite Supply, Demand

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The Associated Press - Senators Grill Oil Execs, Who Cite Supply, Demand

On a day oil prices leaped to unheard-of highs, senators lined up Big Oil's biggest executives and pummeled them with complaints that they're pretending to be "hapless victims" while raking in record profits.

"Where is the corporate conscience?" Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked the top executives of the five largest U.S. oil companies.

It's all about economics, came the reply. Supply and demand.

The company leaders tried to shift attention from motorists' anger over high gasoline prices -- with the national average for a gallon of regular hitting $3.81 -- to a debate over new areas for drilling.

But senators at the Judiciary Committee hearing weren't having any of that. They wanted to press the executives about public anguish over paying $60 or more to fill a car's gas tank.

"People we represent are hurting; the companies you represent are profiting," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told the executives. He said there's a "disconnect" between legitimate supply issues and the oil and gasoline prices motorists are seeing.

The executives, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in the hearing room, said they understood people were hurting. They tried to blunt the emotion with economic analysis.

The executives, appearing under oath, cited tight global supplies with scant spare production capacity and the fact that large areas of land and offshore waters remain off-limits to drilling.

"The fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work," said John Hofmeister, chairman of Shell Oil Co., acknowledging it is something the oil industry has been saying for some time.

Hofmeister was joined by executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BP America Inc. and ConocoPhilips Co. Together the five companies earned $36 billion during the first three months of this year.

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