Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Newt Says Exxon Doesn't Need New Reserves


The media rushed Newt Gingrich after his formal remarks at the darkened House of Representatives. He joined the group of Capital Superman, who by their very words, dropped gasoline prices at the pump. In today's GOP Press Conference, SuperNewt offered the following on ExxonMobile, who days ago declared a nearly $12 billion quarterly profit. His remarks come near the 25:50 mark of the C-SPAN program:

"MobileExxon is going to make billions of dollars as long as supply is tight. And they already own the oil. They don't need drilling. The independents need drilling. The average American needs drilling. So the best way to take on big oil is to go to a dramatic drilling program and drive down the price of oil."

That's odd. ExxonMobile is #17 on the list of world oil companies in the size of its reserves. It is #1 on revenues and #1 on profits, but way behind on reserves. Middle East state owned oil companies stand at the top of the reserves list. Iran is #1 and Iraq #3. ExxonMobile is drooling at the bit over the prospect of Iraqi oil. Bush already cleared the table for big oil's access to the barely developed Iraqi oil fields. Will George W. do likewise with Iran in America's Contract on the Middle East?