Oil Industry Misleads the Public with TV Ads

Luther: Oil Industry Misleads the Public with TV Ads

Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 11:25 PM

EDEN PRAIRIE – DFL candidate for Attorney General and former U.S. Congressman Bill Luther called the oil industry’s recent cable television ads misleading propaganda. Those ads claim that the recent spikes in gas prices are a result of foreign oil supplies. The ads, sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, attempt to shift responsibility from oil companies to the world market.

“Minnesotans shouldn’t be fooled by the oil companies’ attempts to shift responsibility from their quest for profits to instabilities in the world market,” said Luther. “The facts show that the oil industry is simply again attempting to protect their record profits.”

Luther said oil companies are able to manipulate gas prices through their concentration in the industry. Today, five oil companies control more than half of U.S. refining capacity and the top 10 account for three-quarters. A majority are oil powerhouses like ConocoPhillips Co., Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC, which influence prices from drilling to pumping gas into cars and trucks.

Luther said, “When gas prices fall after a sudden spike, consumers feel a sense of relief, which sets the public up to accept as normal unacceptably high gas prices.”

Also, according to an Associated Press analysis that looked at weekly federal pricing data since September 1999, a gallon of retail gas rose an average of 6 cents for every 10-cent rise in oil, but dropped only 4 cents for every 10-cent decline in oil. And oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corporation continue to report record profits year after year.

Luther is calling for an investigation into oil company practices that drive up the cost of gasoline at the pump. He has also called for a nationwide effort to stop consolidation and break up monopolies in the oil industry.

To view the American Petroleum Institute’s ad, visit the Web site,

http://api-ec.api.org/video_library/ads/industries-q1-2006.wmv