BP: Beyond Petroleum... or are they?


State of Alaska files suit against BP, Exxon Mobil for restricting supplies of Natural Gas and inflating prices.

[snip]The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, says the two companies acted together to eliminate competition for the exploration, development and marketing of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to U.S. markets.
"The only reason for them to collusively not to sell is to try to continue the scarcity that has driven natural gas prices to historic highs," said David Boies, the attorney for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, which filed the lawsuit.[/snip]

I think the thing that makes me sick about this is all of the commercials BP has been putting out in the last few years, painting themselves as a tree-hugger, evironmentally friendly energy supplier whose very concerned about global warming and the state of the environment. The commercials suggest that BP is at the forefront in the exploration of alternative sources of energy, and that slowly they may be abandoning the big-oil way of thinking. BP is supposedly more concerned about your "carbon footprint" than you are.

Whatever.

As it looks, BP is in cahoots with the fine fellas over at Exxon who brought this wonderful little spill to Alaska a few decades ago. By limiting their NG supply, BP/Exxon drove demand through the roof, along with the pricing. Somebody is making some serious mulah here... and it isn't the State of Alaska.

[snip]BP and Exxon Mobil are two of Alaska's biggest oil and gas leaseholders, and are the operators for the North Slope's largest oil and gas fields, Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson. Alaska's North Slope is estimated to have at least 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, which could supply 7 percent to 10 percent of the nation's natural gas, Boies said.[/snip]

As I've always suspected, you can always trust big oil to do the right thing. The right thing right now is to keep America buying petroleum, overcharge for natural gas, and laugh all the way to the bank.

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