Big Oil in Britain and the USA

This video from the USA says about itself:

Cain: Trust Big Oil To Protect Environment

2012 Republican presidential hopeful and Tea Party favorite Herman Cain had some strange thoughts on who might advise him on issues related to the environment. Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

Pizza Magnate Herman Cain Has Extensive Ties To Powerful Koch Group: here.

Herman Cain: “I’m very proud of the relationship I have with the Koch Brothers”: here.

On the News With Thom Hartmann: GOP Frontrunner Cain Admits His 9-9-9 Plan Would Raise Taxes on the Poor, and More: here.

Herman Cain’s spokesman lobbied for nonprofit exposed as front for military contractors: here.

In Mexico, no one’s laughing about Cain’s electric fence joke: here.

USA: Top Ten Giveaways to Big Oil in Rick Perry’s “Jobs” Plans: here.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Ripped off by a cartel

Friday 14 October 2011

Prime Minister David Cameron was glowing with pride today as he unveiled a £4.5 billion North Sea oil project in Scotland.

The second phase of the giant Clair field forms part of £10bn being spent on four projects by BP and its partners from Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron over the next five years.

It might seem like a gigantic sum of money but, in terms of the energy industry as a whole, it’s very small potatoes.

It seems an age ago that the Gulf of Mexico disaster cost BP $40bn but it was only in April 2010 that the company caused the biggest environmental disaster in history.

The company wailed at the time that it was being driven into losses and indeed it was – for all of three months. It was back into the black to the tune of £1bn in September of the same year.

That’s some comeback, so where does the money come from to keep the energy industries awash with cash?

Well if you open your wallet, you will be looking straight at the source of their wealth. It’s you.

It’s you everywhere you turn and at every opportunity they can find to rob you blind.

And don’t get misled by the idea that these companies are competing and thus keeping prices down – they’re not. It’s just one great big cartel with a lot of misleadingly named divisions.

The oil price is intimately related to gas prices – it’s the same companies that extract both.

The electricity price is tied in as well because of generation methods.

And the ownership of all the energy companies, be they generation, extraction or retail supply firms, is linked in an intricate web of cross-ownership, so-called joint projects and reciprocal shareholdings.

So when the domestic energy supply companies are unmasked as jacking their profits up by around 800 per cent and blame the supply costs, they are essentially blaming themselves.

In essence, they are transferring the profit from one trouser pocket to the other.

When you fill up your car – if you are lucky enough to be able to run one – you will notice that it costs an arm and a leg.

But don’t try and reduce your costs by travelling by train. Our electric network has risen in price so much that a Tory minister recently admitted that it is becoming a “rich man’s toy.”

When your oil-fired central heating costs pyramid as they have done over the past decade, don’t try to switch to gas or electric heating.

They’ve been part of the same inflationary spiral and comparatively there isn’t much difference in the price rises the power suppliers have imposed.

When the SNP talks proudly about Scottish oil, don’t be conned. It’s not Scottish, it’s developed by BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron among a host of others – and they take the profit.

Even in the midst of the recession, the current profit margins for energy suppliers are higher than ever before.

And when domestic regulator Ofgem bleats that users should “shop around” to obtain the best prices, take it with a pinch of salt. Prices change continually and life’s just too short, especially when you realise that the 800 per cent rise in profits is measured across all the supply companies.

It’s an old saw that the rich don’t stay rich by being generous – and these companies are the richest of the lot.

In energy in all its guises, there is only one answer and that’s to nationalise the lot and stop this phoney market which only suits the big companies.

But don’t expect gushing Cameron to try that tactic.

And don’t try writing to a Tory minister to complain, he’ll probably dump your missive in a park bin.

Left Labour MPs raised the possibility of taking greedy energy giants into public ownership today: here.

Exclusive: BP to risk worst ever oil spill in Shetlands drilling: here.

BP oil spill ruined my life: Dean Blanchard’s firm used 2 account for 11% of US shrimp supply: here.

USA: It’s time to end handouts to Big Oil: here.

“Nigerians argue Shell was complicit in torture and other crimes against humanity”: here.