Big Bad Oil Companies

Most of us know that the gasoline that powers our cars comes from oil. Few are aware, however, of how many other things get their start from a barrel of oil. Everyday things, from synthetic fabrics we wear year-round to medicines that make us feel better to fertilizer to help our garden grow – and just about every toy children play with.

From the time your digital clock alarm rings in the morning to the time you turn in for the night, oil touches your life in ways you may never have imagined. Thousands of products – from your toothpaste to your telephone, your credit cards to your computer, and your vitamins to your shampoo – all got their start from oil. Understanding how much life there is in a barrel of oil helps us discover how our nation’s oil and natural gas industry keeps America going strong.

The oil industry is a steward of the environment. Between 1995 and 2004, the U.S. oil and natural gas industry spent about $188 billion to protect the nation’s environment. This amounts to $299 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. Thanks to directional drilling, slimhole rigs and other technological advances, oil can be found with less disturbance to wetlands and other sensitive environments.

Oil has a second life. Two gallons of recycled used oil can generate enough electricity to run the average household for almost 24 hours, cook 48 meals in a microwave oven, blow dry hair 216 times, vacuum a house for 15 months or run a TV set for 180 hours. Motor oil doesn’t wear out – it just gets dirty. The oil you take to a collection center to be recycled can be reprocessed and used in furnaces for heat, used in power plants to generate electricity, and re refined into lubricating oils that meet the same specifications as virgin motor oil. For more information, visit www.recycleoil.org.

Oil products are cleaner. Thanks to improved automobile technology and cleaner burning gasolines, today it would take 37 new cars to produce the same tailpipe emissions as one new car in the 1960s.

If it weren’t for petrochemicals, you could kiss lipstick goodbye.  Oil does a lot more than simply provide fuel for our cars and trucks, keep our homes and offices comfortable, and power our industries. Oil is a key ingredient in making thousands of products that make our lives easier – and in many cases – help us live better and longer lives. From lipstick to aspirin and diapers to roller blades, petrochemicals play a vital part. Here are just a few examples.

 

Antihistamines

Antiseptics

Artificial Hearts

Aspirin

Audiocassettes

Baby Strollers

Balloons

Bandages

Blenders

Cameras

Candles

CD Players

Clothing

Compact Discs

Computers

Containers

Crayons

Credit Cards

Dentures

Deodorant

Diapers

Digital Clocks

Dinnerware

DVDs

Dyes

Eyeglass Frames

Fertilizers

Food Preservatives

Food Storage Bags

Footballs

Foul Weather Gear

Furniture

Garbage Bags

Glue

Golf Balls

Hair Dryers

Hang Gliders

Heart Valve Replacements

House Paint

Infant Seats

Ink

Insecticides

Life Jackets

Lipstick

Luggage

Medical Equipment

Nylon Rope

Pacemakers

Pantyhose

Patio Screens

Perfumes

Photographic Film

Photographs

Piano Keys

Roller Blades

Roofing

Safety Glass

Shampoo

Shaving Cream

Shower Curtains

Slippers

Soft Contact Lenses

Sunglasses

Surfboards

Surgical Equipment

Syringes

Telephones

Tents

Toothpaste

Toys

Umbrellas

Vitamin Capsules

Oil companies don’t make as much as you’d think off a gallon of gasoline. Did you know that oil companies only make 4% off the cost of a gallon of gasoline? The average price of gas in this country is $3.26. That would mean that the big bad oil companies make $0.13 on every gallon of gasoline you buy. What people don’t realize is that it is their government that is causing the price of gasoline to be so high. In California the amount of tax on a gallon of gasoline is $0.69 per gallon. That is over five times what the oil companies take.

If the government really cared about the rising price of gasoline you’d think they could cut the tax on it. In fact, that is what Senator John McCain wanted to do for the entire summer. (Not that I’m a supporter of McCain.) It is nice to see that there are some people out there who realize where we could make some tax breaks.

There is always talk about the big profits that oil companies make. But what are they doing with that money? If they aren’t using it to employ the 1.5 million Americans that American oil companies hire (that doesn’t count foreign oil companies who have employees all over the world), or using that profit to pump money into environmental causes, they are storing it away. Why? They are preparing for the when they fall on hard times. The government doesn’t bail out oil companies who are suffering financially. (Unlike how it helps financial institutions like Bear Stearns.) After 1980, reduced demand and overproduction produced a glut on the world market causing a six-year-long decline in oil prices. This culminated with a 46 percent price drop in 1986. Jobs in the market were hard to come by and oil companies had to make many, many cutbacks. This is still fresh in the minds of those who worked in the industry at that time. Being smart, and not wanting that to happen again, they are saving away money for a rainy day.

The bottom line is this: We live a world (and a country) that depends on the petrochemical industry. So the next time you meet someone who works for an oil company, don’t sneer and make a rude remark. Be thankful for all of the plastic products, energy, charitable donations and jobs that they help provide. Whether you like it or not you can’t live without oil, so make the best of it. Oh…and let your elected officials know they should cut some of the taxes on gasoline, because we all could use the financial break!