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Exxon Mobil CEO calls for an end to ethanol subsidies
Jeff Wilson and Joe Carroll, Bloomberg via Detroit Free Press
Exxon Mobil Corp., after posting a record $36.1 billion in profit last year from surging oil prices, said the United States should end 28 years of subsidies for a competing fuel made from corn because the subsidies benefit domestic growers.

"We've never been a supporter of subsidies under any conditions because they distort market signals," chairman and Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said in a New York interview Tuesday. "What the government has done is stick a filter between the signals of the market and consumers. The fact that the subsidies exist shows it's not a viable alternative."

Tillerson rejected President George W. Bush's call for increased government aid for ethanol, a form of grain alcohol that's blended into about one-third of U.S. gasoline. Surging energy prices helped Exxon to the most profitable year ever for a U.S. company. Tillerson's comments drew the ire of corn and ethanol producers.

"In the face of pornographic profits being made by oil companies and the reality of higher gas prices this year, it is outrageous for an executive for big oil to actually suggest getting rid of the tax credit for ethanol," said Brian Jennings, executive vice president of the American Coalition for Ethanol in Sioux Falls, S.D.
(9 March 2006)
Looking in our archives, I found a related story about oil companies and subsidies (see next article). -BA

U.S. royalty plan to give windfall to oil companies
Edmund L. Andrews, Washington Post
The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period.
(13 February 2006)
Also posted at Common Dreams.

PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses
A Biopsy on Imperialism
Part II: "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf
Sarah Meyer, Index Research (via Blogspot)
This US Government 2001 "political" map of The Persian Gulf shows oil pumping stations, refineries, oil terminals, oil and gas pipelines, sea-routes, towns and country capitols in Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and parts of the UAE, Jordan, Turkey and Syria. Also in 2001, the Pentagon document, 'Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.' gives the names of 30 governments and companies interested in Iraqi oil(1).

... "by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? ... While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greater access there, progress continues to be slow."
- Dick Cheney, then Halliburton CEO, 1999 (2)

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Rebuilding America's Defenses: "Special Interests"
3. The Persian Gulf: A Region of Vital Importance
4. Petro-dollar warfare with Iraq
5. Crude Designs in Iraq
6. Iran: Imperial Hypocrisy
7. Petro-dollar warfare with Iran
8. Sanctions in Iran?
9. Nuclear war in Iran?
10. Gas in Iran
11. Petro-dollar warfare with Syria?
12. Special interests in Africa
13. Conclusion
14. Appendix I: Bremer's Orders: References
15. Appendix II: Karbuz: US Military Oil Consumption
(8 March 2006)
Long article with many web references by UK researcher Sarah Meyer (website). Her articles have appeared in dissidentvoice, williambowles.info, globalresearch.ca, and other websites. About this article, williambowles.info writes:

...I urge everyone to read as it presents us with a forensic analysis of the events leading up to and surrounding the entire situation in the Middle/Far East and the centrality of oil to US strategic and above all, economic interests. Next time someone scoffs and tries to put you down with putdown talk of 'oil conspiracies', simply refer them to this overview. End of conversation. And for researchers, I think it's the ideal collection of links to all the relevant documents and analysis of US imperial strategy

Vladimir Putin's G8 vision
Vladimir Putin, RIA Novosti news agency via World Peace Herald
...The establishment of a reliable and comprehensive system of energy security is clearly one of the strategic goals for the G8 and the world community as a whole. Today, global energy is an important and true engine of social and economic progress. This is why it directly affects the well-being of billions of people around the globe.

During the Russian presidency, not only will we seek to develop fundamental approaches to meeting current challenges in this field but also outline our coordinated policy for the long term.

Today, the lack of stability in the hydrocarbon markets poses a real threat to global energy supply. In particular, the gap between supply and demand continues to widen. The apparent increase in energy consumption in Asian countries is caused not only by market fluctuations but also by a host of other factors related to policy and security. In order to stabilize the situation in this field, coordinated activities of the entire world community are needed.

The new policy of the leading world countries should be based on the understanding that the globalization of the energy sector makes energy security indivisible. Our common future in the area of energy means common responsibilities, risks and benefits.

In our view, it is especially important to develop a strategy for achieving global energy security. It should be based on a long-term, reliable and environmentally sustainable energy supply at prices affordable to both the exporting countries and the consumers. In addition to reconciling the interests of stakeholders in the global energy interaction, we will have to identify practical measures aimed at ensuring sustainable access of the world economy to traditional sources of energy, as well as promoting energy-saving programs and developing alternative energy sources.
(2 March 2006)

An Explosive Gas Deal
Ukraine: Putin's hard bargain could undermine democracy in Europe
Jackson Diehl, Washington Post
Sometimes the stumbling blocks in international affairs are glaringly obvious -- such as the victory of Islamic fundamentalists in Palestinian elections, which has at least temporarily paralyzed the Bush administration's policy of promoting democracy in the Middle East. Sometimes, though, they are complicated, confusing or simply opaque, and thus barely reported on by the press or understood beyond a small circle of experts.

That might explain why there has been so little discussion in Washington of a gas deal between Russia and Ukraine this winter that, in its own way, may be as significant as the Palestinian vote. Here is a terribly dense tangle of a half-dozen contracts that involves hidden partners, disputed pricing arrangements, and esoteric side agreements about transit fees and storage facilities. It is mind-numbingly boring -- and it may tip the balance against democracy in much of the eastern half of Europe.
(27 February 2006)