Big Oil Throws Down the Gauntlet

"America will always rely on foreign oil." - Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Stuart McGill. Maybe so, to some extent, but can America rely on Big Oil?

Myopia appears to be alive and well at Exxon Mobil. "No combination of conservation measures, alternative energy sources and technological advances could realistically and economically provide a way to completely replace those imports in the short or medium term." And the long term?

This is disturbing because it means that the windfall profits made this past year from the escalation of oil prices will not be invested in ways that will help sustain a nation whose Texas-oil President is forced to admit is "addicted to oil."

Other industry indicators are equally disturbing. Yes British Petroleum is promoting "Beyond Petroleum" but none of the alternative energy technologies in their initiative have anything to do with renewable liquid fuel. And why not? Can anyone seriously argue that the oil companies aren't in a prime position to exploit the implementation of ethanol as a gasoline extender?

Brazil exports both oil and ethanol at considerable profit because they made a concerted effort to develop the production capacity of ethanol. Our oil companies could elect to do the same - protecting both their longterm resources and the economic health of the markets that buy them.

From the Daily KOS Blog. File under "Methinks thou dost protest too much."

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"America will always rely on foreign oil"
by Chris Kulczycki

"America will always rely on foreign oil." So says Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Stuart McGill at a recent Houston energy conference. This is one of several belated responses to Bush's weak call for American energy independence, or at least less reliance on Middle Eastern oil. More below:

"Realistically, it is simply not feasible in any time period relevant to our discussion today," Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Stuart McGill said, referring to what he called the "misperception" that the United States can achieve energy independence. -snip-

"Americans depend upon imports to fill the gap," McGill said. "No combination of conservation measures, alternative energy sources and technological advances could realistically and economically provide a way to completely replace those imports in the short or medium term."

Instead of trying to achieve energy independence, importing nations like the U.S. should be promoting energy interdependence, McGill said.

"Because we are all contributing to and drawing from the same pool of oil, all nations -- exporting and importing -- are inextricably bound to one another in the energy marketplace," he said.