Big Oil Man Bill Phillips of Conoco/Phillips Warns of Disaster if Obama Elected

I keep getting this email "Bill Phillips on Oil" forwarded to me by my Republican friends and have decided to respond to it. And to give you all the opportunity to do so too. (I will have to post in segments as this will go on for a bit).

First, please read "Bill Phillip's" email as it is being forwrded from his friend who listens when Bill speaks.

"Bill Phillips spent nearly 50 years in the US oil and gas industry; most of his career was with the Phillips Petroleum Company. Bill is a descendant of Frank Phillips. Frank Phillips, along with his brother Lee Eldas (L.E.) Phillips, Sr., founded the original Phillips Petroleum Company in 1917 in Bartlesville, OK. Do you remember Phillips 66 gas stations? Phillips Petroleum Company merged with Conoco, Inc. in 2002 to form the current ConocoPhillips oil company.

So, when Bill talks about oil and gas issues, I tend to listen - closely. I think that you will find Bill's thoughts and facts very revealing, very compelling and very difficult to argue with.

As you prepare to cast your crucial ballots this Fall, please think long and hard about the far-reaching, cumulative effects of the US political philosophies, policies and legislation that have contributed to the current and future US oil supply situation.

May 28, 2008

"Big Oil"

Did you know that the United States does NOT have any big oil companies. It's true: the largest American oil company, Exxon Mobil, is only the 14th largest in the world, and is dwarfed by the really big oil companies--all owned by foreign governments or government-sponsored monopolies--that dominate the world's oil supply.

This graph below tells the story; you can barely see the American oil companies as minor players on the right side of the chart in gray. The chart was presented to the House committee last week by Chevron.

With 94% of the world's oil supply locked up by foreign governments, most of which are hostile to the United States, the relatively puny American oil companies do not have access to enough crude oil to significantly affect the market and help bring prices down. Thus, ExxonMobil, a "small" oil company, buys 90% of the crude oil that it refines for the U.S. market from the big players, i.e, mostly-hostile foreign governments. The price at the U.S. pump is rising because the price the big oil companies charge ExxonMobil and the other small American companies for crude oil is going up as the value of the American dollar goes down. They will eventually bleed this country into printing even more money and we will go into runway inflation once again as we did under the Carter Democratic reign.

This is obviously a tough situation for the American consumer. The irony is that it doesn't have to be that way. The United States--unlike, say, France--actually has vast petroleum reserves. It would be possible for American oil companies to develop those reserves, play a far bigger role in international markets, and deliver gas at the pump to American consumers at a much lower price, while creating many thousands of jobs for Americans. This would be infinitely preferable to shipping endless billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela to be used in propping up their economies.

So, why doesn't it happen? Because the Democrat Party--aided, sadly, by a handful of Republicans--deliberately keeps gas prices high and our domestic oil companies small by putting most of our reserves off limits to development. China is now drilling in the Caribbean, off Cuba but our own companies are barred by law from developing large oil fields off the coasts of Florida and California. (NOTE: original email to be continued in next post)

Pt. 2 origianl email - "This is obviously a tough situation for the American consumer. The irony is that it doesn't have to be that way. The United States--unlike, say, France--actually has vast petroleum reserves. It would be possible for American oil companies to develop those reserves, play a far bigger role in international markets, and deliver gas at the pump to American consumers at a much lower price, while creating many thousands of jobs for Americans. This would be infinitely preferable to shipping endless billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela to be used in propping up their economies.

So, why doesn't it happen? Because the Democrat Party--aided, sadly, by a handful of Republicans--deliberately keeps gas prices high and our domestic oil companies small by putting most of our reserves off limits to development. China is now drilling in the Caribbean, off Cuba but our own companies are barred by law from developing large oil fields off the coasts of Florida and California. Enormous oil-shale deposits in the Rocky Mountain states could go a long way toward supplying American consumers' needs, but the Democratic Congress won't allow those resources to be developed. ANWR contains vast petroleum reserves, but we don't know how vast, because Congress, not wanting the American people to know how badly its policies are hurting our economy, has made it illegal to explore and map those reserves, let alone develop them.

In short, all Americans are paying a terrible price for the Democratic Party's perverse energy policies. I own some small interests in tiny, 4 barrel-per-day oil wells in Wyoming. We have 14 agencies that have iron-hand jurisdiction over us. If we drop any oil on the ground when the refinery truck comes to pick up oil from our holding tanks, we are fined. Yet down the road the state will spray thousands of gallons of used oil on a dirt road to control dirt. When it rains that oil runs into rivers and creeks. Yet a cup of oil on the ground at our wellhead is a $50,000 EPA fine plus additional fines from state regulating agencies. They treat oil as if it were plutonium that has the potential to leak into the environment. We are fined if our dirt burms are not high enough around a holding tank, yet th e truck that picks up our oil runs down the road at 60 mph with no burm around it. People wonder why there is no more exploration in this country. It's because of the regulators; people who have lived their whole lives doing nothing but imposing fines on small operators like us for doing mostly nothing.

So, America enjoy your $4.00 per gallon gasoline. Your dollar is now worth 0.62 Euro-Cents. The lack of American production of GNP, the massive trade deficit (as labor markets have moved overseas to fight insanely high union imposed labor costs in America) and the run away printing of money (backed by nothing of value here in America) has caused the dollar to become more worthless on the international market. And that's where our oil comes from. It's paid for with dollars that become more worthless everyday. If we had just kept par with the Euro we'd be paying $62 dollars per barrel for oil (42 gallons) or about $1.50 instead of $2.50 a gallon for crude oil.

What the US government also does not tell you is that it is the leaseholder and royalty recipient of most oil production and receives 25% of the gross oil sales before we pay for electricity to lift the oil, propane to keep the oil-water separators from freezing in the winters. We pay a pumper to visit each well everyday plus we have equipment failures all the time. We pay for that out of our 75% of gross sales. (NOTE: Original email to be continued in next post)

Pt 3 of Original Email "The government does not share in any expenses to run any production well. So, if the Big Oil Companies are making record profits, then so is the federal government from it's 25% tax on every molecule of oil sold to a refinery in this country. Why isn't the government on the stand for "Record" profits? What you don't see is this 25% of the sales price of crude oil being siphoned away by the government. That money plus the road taxes, state taxes, etc. amounts to over $1 per gallon of gasoline you are buying while the governments only admit to about 50 cents per gallon.



To all you Democrats, when you go vote for your candidate, a blazing liberal like Barrack Hussein Obama or Hillary Clinton, just keep in mind that their liberal spending habits will further decrease the value of the American dollar on the world market and your gasoline costs will hike even higher. As they introduce more give-away programs, raise taxes on everyone to pay people not to produce or work, your dollar will continue to dwindle on the world market and you will be paying $10.00 per gallon at the next election. Cheap hydrocarbon fuel is all over. Enjoy! Enjoy the fruits of your decision to elect these folks when you are there in that voting booth and you stab your pin through a Democrat's name.

William "Bill" Phillips" END ORIGINAL EMAIL

Actually the letter is nothing but propaganda for the oil barons to get public support for offshore drilling.

See, first mistake I got in the letter is this one, "This would be infinitely preferable to shipping endless billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela to be used in propping up their economies".

Actually Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia, rank in this order in the US consumer dependency, Saudi third, Venezuela fourth, Russia don't even make it to the top 5, Canada is first and Mexico second.

So actually we are propping Canada and Mexico economies first, but appeals more to the American people to hear the names of not so friendly countries first.

Second the only thing that Obama may be doing to the oil barons is that he may no be so friendly to them as Bush has been as an oil man and Republican.

Even when both parties cater to corporate corruption they do have their personal favorites.

[edit on 4-7-2008 by marg6043]

"Network" is on TV right now, so to quote Peter Finch: "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it ANYMORE!"

While we can all agree to have opposing political opinions, let’s try not to create unity by passing around a poor, beleaguered oil man’s litany-of-pity-me-complaints that are out right falsehoods.

To that end I am going to address these laughably-tragically-erroneous statements one-by-one as an example of courtesy to those who seemingly, blindly, believe whatever shows up in your email box and who also cannot be bothered to check the facts of anything you decide to pass along while trying to influence how people vote. (...gnashing of teeth… growling…)

STATEMENT: “Did you know that the United States does NOT have any big oil companies. It's true: the largest American oil company, Exxon Mobil, is only the 14th largest in the world, and is dwarfed by the really big oil companies--all owned by foreign governments or government-sponsored monopolies--that dominate the world's oil supply.”

FACT: ExxonMobil is the world's largest company by revenue, at $404.5 billion for the fiscal year of 2007. It is also the largest publicly held corporation by market capitalization, at $501.17 billion on April 18, 2008. While: ExxonMobil's daily production is still surpassed by several of the largest state-owned petroleum companies[8] and it is only 14th in the world when ranked by held oil and gas reserves. [9] Currently, the company ranks #1 in the world in net income, which was almost $40 billion last year. en.wikipedia.org...

STATEMENT: “With 94% of the world's oil supply locked up by foreign governments, most of which are hostile to the United States,…(sentence cont. below)

FACT: No, actually that number is 77 percent, (per James A. Baker the III’s institute no less www.bakerinstitute.org... ) as to being hostile to the U.S. the UAE likes us, granted Venezula and Russia, not so much. But please keep in mind that the WTO has been busy regulating how the Gov. owned oil co.’s can operate www.ifg.org... and are forcing them to allow US oil co.’s in.

STATEMENT: “….relatively puny American oil companies do not have access to enough crude oil to significantly affect the market and help bring prices down. Thus, ExxonMobil, a "small" oil company”…

It’s a FACT: That I am rolling on the floor with this one. Honestly, does the man have no shame, or respect for the intellect of his ‘friend’? See Above regarding how “small” Exxon is. Moving along.

STATEMENT: “The price at the U.S. pump is rising because the price the big oil companies charge ExxonMobil and the other small American companies for crude oil is going up as the value of the American dollar goes down. They will eventually bleed this country into printing even more money and we will go into runway inflation once again as we did under the Carter Democratic reign.”

FACT: The value of the dollar goes down when money is printed and interest rates are artificially low. Why are US dollars being printed? Currently to bail out the Banks, the tune of a trillion I believe, since last September. And let us not forget the trillions of U.S. currency we sent to Iraq to establish a new monetary system there, that was all freshly minted too. No doubt inflation is much higher than the Bush Administration acknowledges, (See: Numbers racket: Why the economy is worse than we know harpers.org... ) and will rise even more, but it is a simplistic and reductionist argument to imply that more exploration by U.S. oil companies is going to resolve the massive challenge we face with current and coming inflation.


[edit on 4-7-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

STATEMENT: “The irony is that it doesn't have to be that way. The United States--unlike, say, France--actually has vast petroleum reserves. It would be possible for American oil companies to develop those reserves, play a far bigger role in international markets, and deliver gas at the pump to American consumers at a much lower price, while creating many thousands of jobs for Americans. “ (TL ASIDE : As would exploring alternative energy, but since our concerns here are how hard and unfair conditions are for American oil co.’s on I forge)

FACT: Between 1999 and 2007, permits for drilling in onshore and offshore public lands “increased by more than 361 percent, yet gasoline prices have also risen dramatically,” the House Natural Resources Committee reported in a 2008 analysis. “There is simply no correlation between the two.” The Natural Resources Committee also found that they produce oil or gas from only one-quarter of the 44 million acres of leases already held in the western Gulf of Mexico. (While the Coast Guard estimated that oil rigs hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita spilled more than 7 million gallons of oil into the Gulf -- which now has the largest oceanic “dead zone” in the world -- and these same rigs routinely discharge thousands of pounds of mercury, lead, benzene and other toxic chemicals into the water).


MORE FROM THAT REPORT:
- On the Outer Continental Shelf, 82% of federal natural gas and 79% of federal oil is located in areas that are currently open for leasing.
_ Onshore, 72% of oil and 84% of natural gas resources are either fully accessible under standard lease stipulations designed to protect lands and wildlife, or will be accessible pending the completion of land-use planning or environmental reviews.
_ Between 1999 and 2007, drilling permits for oil and gas development on public lands increased more than 361%.
_ Since 2004, the Bureau of Land Management has issued 28,776 permits to drill on public land; in that same time, only 18,954 wells were actually drilled.
_ Oil and gas companies have stockpiled nearly 10,000 extra permits to drill that they are not using to increase domestic production.
_ Onshore, of the 47.5 million acres of federal lands leased by oil and gas companies, only about 13 million acres are actually producing oil and gas.
_ Offshore, only 10.5 million of the 44 million leased acres are currently producing oil or gas.
_ Combined, oil and gas companies hold leases to nearly 68 million acres of federal land that are not producing oil and gas.
_ The 68 million acres of leased, inactive federal land could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.
_ That would nearly double total U.S. oil production, and increase natural gas production by 75%.
_ 4.8 million barrels of oil equals more than six times the estimated peak production from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- Development of and production from the 68 million acres currently under lease but not in production would cut US imports of oil by one-third.
resourcescommittee.house.gov...


[edit on 4-7-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

ON US OIL SHALE:
Main article: Oil shale reserves
The United States has the largest known deposits of oil shale in the world, according to the Bureau of Land Management and holds an estimated 2,500 gigabarrels of potentially recoverable oil, enough to meet U.S. demand for oil at current rates for 110 years. However, oil shale does not actually contain oil, but a waxy oil precursor known as kerogen. For this reason and because there is not yet any significant commercial production of oil from oil shale in the United States as of 2008, its oil shale reserves do not meet the petroleum industry definition of proven oil reserves. en.wikipedia.org...

STATEMENT – “So, why doesn't it happen? Because the Democrat Party--aided, sadly, by a handful of Republicans--deliberately keeps gas prices high and our domestic oil companies small by putting most of our reserves off limits to development. China is now drilling in the Caribbean, off Cuba but our own companies are barred by law from developing large oil fields off the coasts of Florida and California. Enormous oil-shale deposits in the Rocky Mountain states could go a long way toward supplying American consumers' needs, but the Democratic Congress won't allow those resources to be developed. ANWR contains vast petroleum reserves, but we don't know how vast, because Congress, not wanting the American people to know how badly its policies are hurting our economy, has made it illegal to explore and map those reserves, let alone develop them.”

FACT: All of this is addressed ABOVE and is patently untrue.

STATEMENT: “I own some small interests in tiny, 4 barrel-per-day oil wells in Wyoming.”

FACT: Oil closed yesterday at $145 a barrel so Bob there made a “small interest in $580.00”, that doesn’t sound like very much. I wonder how many of those tiny wells they’ve got pumping to put up with all that regulation.

STATEMENT: We have 14 agencies that have iron-hand jurisdiction over us. If we drop any oil on the ground when the refinery truck comes to pick up oil from our holding tanks, we are fined. Yet down the road the state will spray thousands of gallons of used oil on a dirt road to control dirt. When it rains that oil runs into rivers and creeks. Yet a cup of oil on the ground at our wellhead is a $50,000 EPA fine plus additional fines from state regulating agencies. They treat oil as if it were plutonium that has the potential to leak into the environment. We are fined if our dirt burms are not high enough around a holding tank, yet th e truck that picks up our oil runs down the road at 60 mph with no burm around it. People wonder why there is no more exploration in this country. It's because of the regulators; people who have lived their whole lives doing nothing but imposing fines on small operators like us for doing mostly nothing.”

FACT: EPA policy on surface water and “stripper wells”, Bob’s kind which are defined as producing less than 10 barrels a day, are under the purview of the state in which they are located. So I don’t see how Bob’s situation is going to be resolved by a Presidential vote. “Under the "stripper" subcategory, states decide whether to authorize produced water discharges from very small oil wells. Since low oil production volumes do not contribute much income to stripper well operators, they are not able to undertake complicated or expensive treatment.” web.ead.anl.gov...


[edit on 4-7-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

Furthermore: The EPA’s postion on oversight is that “The permitting authority will use best professional judgment (BPJ) and water quality standards to determine whether or not to allow the discharge of produced water and any appropriate effluent limitations.” web.ead.anl.gov...
As to Berms – which ‘Bob the Oil Man’ misspells – “they are at such at a site are for secondary containment. There is a high potential in loading and unloading a truck for a spill. A truck going down the road has to meet DOT guidlines and be inspected regularly for any leak, and have a recovery plan in case of an accident.

As far as getting a $50,000 fine for spilling a cup of oil on the ground, Oil has a reportable quantity of 10 pounds released into the ground, or a visible sheen on water before contacting the National Recovery Center. If you have the proper berms, you shouldn't get oil in the water. However, Crude oil has an exemption on the reportable quantity under certain production circumstances”.
AND PS - Bill must be located in the distant past as motor oil was once sprayed on dirt roads to hold down the dust, this is no longer done. Wyoming's Deparment of Environmental Quality says that it is always illegal to put oil on roads for dust suppression.

STATEMENT: “So, America enjoy your $4.00 per gallon gasoline. Your dollar is now worth 0.62 Euro-Cents. The lack of American production of GNP, the massive trade deficit (as labor markets have moved overseas to fight insanely high union imposed labor costs in America) and the run away printing of money (backed by nothing of value here in America) has caused the dollar to become more worthless on the international market. And that's where our oil comes from. It's paid for with dollars that become more worthless everyday. If we had just kept par with the Euro we'd be paying $62 dollars per barrel for oil (42 gallons) or about $1.50 instead of $2.50 a gallon for crude oil.”

FACT: Companies moved overseas because they could under NAFTA/CAFTA get labor on average of less than $25.00 a day and still enjoy the privilege of the protections offered US corps. Agreed there is runaway printing of money, see above. Would Bob prefer if OPEC de-pegged from the dollar? I don’t see any point to the subject being made here. Moving on.

STATEMENT – “What the US government also does not tell you is that it is the leaseholder and royalty recipient of most oil production and receives 25% of the gross oil sales before we pay for electricity to lift the oil, propane to keep the oil-water separators from freezing in the winters. We pay a pumper to visit each well everyday plus we have equipment failures all the time. We pay for that out of our 75% of gross sales. The government does not share in any expenses to run any production well. So, if the Big Oil Companies are making record profits, then so is the federal government from it's 25% tax on every molecule of oil sold to a refinery in this country. Why isn't the government on the stand for "Record" profits? What you don't see is this 25% of the sales price of crude oil being siphoned away by the government. That money plus the road taxes, state taxes, etc. amounts to over $1 per gallon of gasoline you are buying while the governments only admit to about 50 cents per gallon.”

FACT – First the U.S. would have to collect those royalty fees to benefit from them, which needless to say has not been the case since Bush and Co. came into office “Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases” www.nytimes.com... And what about the 14.5 billion in new Tax Breaks the Oil Co.’s got in 2005 (back when oil was only $60) www.bloomberg.com...



[edit on 4-7-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

STATEMENT – “To all you Democrats, when you go vote for your candidate, a blazing liberal like Barrack Hussein Obama or Hillary Clinton, just keep in mind that their liberal spending habits will further decrease the value of the American dollar on the world market and your gasoline costs will hike even higher. As they introduce more give-away programs, raise taxes on everyone to pay people not to produce or work, your dollar will continue to dwindle on the world market and you will be paying $10.00 per gallon at the next election. Cheap hydrocarbon fuel is all over. Enjoy! Enjoy the fruits of your decision to elect these folks when you are there in that voting booth and you stab your pin through a Democrat's name.”

FACT – McCain is on record as saying HE OPPOSES DRILLING IN ANWR. Of course he flip-flops on everything on a moment-to-moment basis (PLEASE CLICK here for a sterling example, ) so maybe ‘Bob’ knows what position McCain’s going to take in the future. Otherwise, who does he want us to vote for? Nader?



[edit on 4-7-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

Originally posted by marg6043
Actually the letter is nothing but propaganda for the oil barons to get public support for offshore drilling.

See, first mistake I got in the letter is this one, "This would be infinitely preferable to shipping endless billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela to be used in propping up their economies".

Actually Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia, rank in this order in the US consumer dependency, Saudi third, Venezuela fourth, Russia don't even make it to the top 5, Canada is first and Mexico second.

So actually we are propping Canada and Mexico economies first, but appeals more to the American people to hear the names of not so friendly countries first.

Second the only thing that Obama may be doing to the oil barons is that he may no be so friendly to them as Bush has been as an oil man and Republican.

Even when both parties cater to corporate corruption they do have their personal favorites.

[edit on 4-7-2008 by marg6043]

i agree... and obama is going to tax people with incomes over 250,000 dollars, more then they are currently taxed. and i can't wait to hear them squeal like pigs. they need the same pain that the rest of us have been getting for years. middle income people in america are a dying breed, picked apart and stomped, with wages not keeping up with expenses, people working longer hours, getting laid off from high paying jobs, then forced to take lower paying jobs to support their families. f'em i say.

[edit on 4-7-2008 by jimmyx]

If the only increase was for the cost of oil and associated costs then why are record profits being reported.

Are the oil companies not royalty owners (owner of the minerals) for some of the oil leases. If the price rises, so does the value of their oil. They would make that 25% mentioned.

I sure wish everyone would forget about oil,and pay attention to zero point energy.

I know I will get flamed for this. But I hope gas goes to ten dollars a gallon. We know the havoc oil dependence and usage are reaping on the planet.
Only then, will new forms of energy and modification take place.

Poor old gas companies. They have excuses for EVERYTHING to jack consumers. Summer blends, refinery problems, hurricanes. They should have built a couple more refineries with the billions in profits than keep crying to Congress.

Originally posted by roadgravel
If the only increase was for the cost of oil and associated costs then why are record profits being reported.

Because there is now more oil being sold being sold every year.

As the worlds population rises every year, the more oil gets used every year.

More people = need more oil/gas

More oil/gas sold = larger profit for oil company

reply to post by devareous


There is no such thing as free energy. Take a physics class, and while you're at it, build me a perpetual motion machine. Or is Bush stopping you from doing that?

Big Oil and Big Energy will go kicking and screaming and litigating to their death to
derail and suppress any viable and cost effective alternative energy.

We've already seen this with the reported 2 year delay in new solar energy construction.

It's about time that we put these oil and energy barons in their place.

They have not built a new U.S. refinery in many years and have capped off existing wells
to manipulated supply.

The oil cartels are manipulating the price of oil the very same way that DeBeers regulates
the propped up value of diamonds on the market.

If Asian and Russian diamonds were permitted to hit the market, your sweetie's rock
would be nearly worthless.

Oil speculators are doing exactly the same thing with oil, plain and simple.

reply to post by FallenFromTheTree
Hear! Hear! I haven't checked the boards yet, but I think that merits it's own thread as a subject with links to back up your argument.

For someone who supposedly spent 50 years in the oil bidness, you'd think he's know that Federal Royalty rates are an eighth, not a quarter. Offshore, it's a sixth. And the idea that this is some kind of tax is ridiculous. If I am a private landowner, I'll let an oil company have 7/8 of my oil as long as they are payng for the costs to get it out of the ground. But the American people are just supposed to give away their property to a for-profit corporation?

www.api.org...

reply to post by TheWayISeeIt


"Bill" Phillips is not a member of the Phillips family as a direct descendant of Frank Phillips. The letter is fraudulent if this assertion has been made by the author. As one of Frank's great grandsons I happen to know.

I can assure you this letter has not been written by of Frank's descendants as there is no "Bill Phillips" in his family line.

ANADARKO PETROLEUM
APACHE CP
CHEVRON CORP
CONOCO PHILLIPS
DEVON ENERGY CP (OK)
EOG RESOURCES INC
EXXON MOBIL CP
OCCIDENTAL PET
SCHLUMBERGER LTD
TRANSOCEAN INC

What about the other oil companies.
They might like Obama.

There might be only one oil policy which is still Bushes.


Good post Anonymous ATS, its worth ATS while to let in worthwhile
information to counter the Illuminati press.

ED: Oops, I don't see that Anonymous ATS post now, guess it was bunk.



[edit on 7/11/2008 by TeslaandLyne]