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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (68727)	6/24/2000 11:53:00 AM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Big Oil faces even bigger image problem By Paul Thomasch NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) - If tobacco companies have traditionally been the enfant terrible of the corporate world, they may soon find they're sharing that notoriety with U.S. oil companies. Sizzling oil prices -- which are trading at over $32 a barrel and have hit nearly decade highs in recent months -- have in fact proved a Catch-22 for big oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM - news), Texaco Inc. (NYSE:TX - news) and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CHV - news). While strong petroleum prices have brought them some of the rosiest profits in years, they have also brought public scorn and antitrust investigations as gasoline prices have skyrocketed. Even President Bill Clinton on Thursday said he saw no ``economic explanation'' for why motorists in Chicago are paying more than $2 a gallon for gasoline. Oil companies have responded in typical fashion -- in other words, experts say, they have done little to help their case. ``I have a lot of respect for these companies' business abilities, but when it comes to defending themselves in the public forum they are just terrible,'' said Fadel Gheit, an analyst with Fahnestock & Co. and 25-year veteran of the industry. ``They bicker among each other and they don't have any common ground to stand on,'' he added. ``The fact of the matter is that if the industry is not going to band together, they are going to be the doormat of every politician and interest group.'' So far, one of the few companies to put its public relations team to work is the No. 1 U.S. oil company and famously tight-lipped Exxon Mobil Corp. The Irving, Texas-based company took a stab at explaining the price spike in a piece that ran on the New York Times editorial page on Thursday, placing most of the blame on the introduction of cleaner burning reformulated gasoline. But Exxon Mobil did not send a representative this week to Washington for a meeting with Midwest lawmakers investigating gasoline prices, citing antitrust concerns. And neither did Phillips Petroleum Co. (NYSE:P - news), the oil and gas company based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Still, senior oil executives bristle privately at the notion they are overcharging the public. ``You can't get into a public discussion of pricing because it's anti-competitive,'' said one, who declined to be named. ``The other thing is if you're the only company that stands up and says 'wait a minute this is what's really going on,' then you become a lighting rod,'' he said. What's more, when oil companies do try to present their point of view it is often ignored or misunderstood, said Larry Goldstein, president of consultants PIRA Energy Group in New York. ``The American public is largely economically illiterate, and maybe that's understandable,'' said Larry Goldstein, president of consultants PIRA Energy Group in New York. ``But it's not tolerable on the part of our political system and media who continue to be uninformed on basic economic issues.'' Harry Quarls, a senior partner at Booze Allen & Hamilton, also points the finger at politicians, saying their criticism of oil companies is just another way to win votes. ``The question is of the many and the few,'' he said. ``Look at how many consumers you have and how many oil companies you have. There are no votes to be won to take the side of oil industry, or to understand or be sympathetic to their positions.'' But even Quarls concedes that oil companies haven't done enough to explain their business and policies to the consumer. Other analysts were still more critical, saying the industry was nobody but itself to blame for the image problem. Industry analyst Dr. Philip Verleger, in fact, blasted big oil's public relations techniques in a recent article, describing the National Petroleum Refiners Association and the American Petroleum Institute, the industry's main trade groups, as descendants of Attila the Hun. ``They actually they have worse public image than tobacco companies that kill people,'' said Fahnestock's Gheit. ``The oil companies have failed miserably in every test to win public support. Even if they have the evidence on their side, they never fail to be convicted.'' biz.yahoo.com