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Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I come to the floor once again to announce that Big Oil is beginning to release its third quarter profit reports and while the news is great for investors, it's not so great for American consumers. As American families have been paying sky-high prices at the gas pump and are bracing for record-high home heating costs this winter, the oil industry has been savoring phenomenal profits. Something is wrong when working families are struggling to pay for basic transportation and home heat while Big Oil rakes in obscene amounts of cash by the barrel.
The overall net income for major petroleum companies more than doubled in the third quarter of 2000 relative to the third quarter of 1999. Let me illustrate the phenomenal profits of the oil industry for the past year when gasoline prices soared and heating oil stocks fell.
In the third quarter of 2000, Chevron Corporation reported net profits of $1.53 billion, Exxon Mobil Corporation reported net profits of $4.29 billion, and Texaco reported net profits of $798 million. Compared to the third quarter of 1999, the profits in the third quarter of 2000 increased 163 percent for Chevron, 96 percent for Exxon Mobil, and 106 percent for Texaco. I ask unanimous consent that a chart of these statistics be printed in the RECORD.
Not surprisingly, these multi-million and even multi-billion dollar profits are making record profits. Exxon Mobil executive Peter Townsend is quoted as saying: ``We've got a lot of cash around here. It's coming in pretty fast, flying through the door.'' And according to Fadel Gheit, an analyst with Fahnestock & Company: ``The fourth quarter could beat the third.''
There is no doubt that Big Oil reaped record profits while American consumers and small business owners dug deeper into their pockets to pay for soaring gasoline prices. And more record profits for Big Oil at the expense of consumers and small business owners are expected this winter when heating costs go through the roof. Mr. President, that is outrageous.
Even more disturbing are the recent press reports that the major oil companies are not using their record profits to boost production and lower future prices, but are instead cutting back on exploration and production. Listen to this from a report in the Wall Street Journal: ``Exploration and production expenditures at the so-called super majors--Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Amoco PLC, and Royal Dutch/Shell Group--fell 20 percent to $6.91 billion in the first six months of the year from a year earlier.......''
The investment firm UBS Warburg in London estimated this month that the surplus cash of the top 10 global energy companies will total $40 billion this year and grow to $130 billion by the end of 2004. The companies, Warburg predicts, will use about two-thirds of the surplus to repurchase stock to bolster market price, and one-third to reduce debt. Indeed, last week Texaco and Chevron agreed to merge with Chevron paying $35.1 billion to acquire Texaco.
Well I for one have had enough of Big Oil making record profits at the expense of the working families and the small business owners who pay the oil bills, live by the rules and struggle mightily when fuel and heating costs skyrocket.
On September 27, 2000, I introduced S. 3118, the Windfall Oil Profits For Heating Assistance Act of 2000. My legislation imposes a windfall profits assessment on the oil industry to fund heating help for consumers and small business owners across America.
In true arrogance to the needs of Americans struggling to heat their homes, John Felmy of the American Petroleum Institute has publicly stated: ``The profits aren't owned by consumers, they're owned by the shareholders. The companies have to do what's appropriate for owners of the enterprise.''
The oil industry is made up of corporations formed under the laws of the United States. These oil industry corporations have a responsibility to the public good as well as their shareholders. To reap record windfall profits and then cut back on exploration and production to further increase future profits is poor corporate citizenship and an abuse of the public trust by these oil industry corporations and their executives.
In response to the energy crisis of the 1980s, Congress enacted the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980. This windfall profits tax, which was repealed in 1988, funded low-income fuel assistance and energy and transportation programs.
Similar to the early 1980s, American families again face an energy crisis of high prices and record oil company profits. This past June, gasoline prices hit all-time highs across the United States, with a national average of $1.68 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration. This winter, the Department of Energy estimates that heating oil inventories are 36 percent lower than last year with heating oil inventories in New England estimated to be 65 percent lower than last
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Given the oil industry's record windfall profits in the face of this energy crisis, it is time for Congress to act and again limit the windfall profits of Big Oil. My bill would do just that and dedicate the revenue generated from this windfall profits adjustment to help working families and small business owners with their heating oil costs this winter.
Specifically, the Windfall Oil Profits For Heating Assistance Act of 2000 would impose a 100 percent assessment on windfall profits from the sale of crude oil. My legislation builds on the current investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into the pricing and profits of the oil industry. The bill requires the Federal Trade Commission to expand this investigation to determine if the oil industry is reaping windfall profits.
The revenue collected from windfall oil industry profits, under my legislation, would be dedicated to two separate accounts in the Treasury for the following: 75 percent of the revenues to fund heating assistance programs for consumers such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), weatherization and other energy efficiency programs; and 25 percent of the revenues to fund heating assistance programs for small business owners.
American consumers and small business owners continue to pay sky-high gasoline prices and home heating oil costs are expected to hit an all-time high this winter while U.S. oil corporations reap more record profits. It is time for Congress to restore some basic fairness to the marketplace. It is time for Congress to transfer the windfall profits from Big Oil to fund heating oil assistance for working families.
I urge my colleagues to support the Windfall Oil Profits For Heating Assistance Act of 2000.
Mr. President, I ask that the chart to which I referred, be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the chart was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
| Company | 3rd quarter | change (in percent) | |
| 1999 | 2000 | ||
| Chevron | $582 million | $1.52 billion | 163 |
| Exxon Mobil | 2.19 billion | 4.29 billion | 96 |
| Texaco | 387 million | 798 million | 106 |
END