THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1979
Pag© 9
First quarter oil profits soar
United Press International
Amid continuing accusations that
they make too much money and
President Carter’s proposed tax on
windfall deregulation gains is too
weak, American oil companies re
ported soaring first-quarter profits
for the third straight day Wednes
day.
Standard Oil of Ohio topped the
day’s profit check-in by reporting its
profits soared by a whopping 303
percent.
SOHIO earned $167.5 million, or
$1.39 a share, up 303 percent from
the $41.5 million, or 43 cents a
share last year. Sales were $1.65 bil
lion versus $1.03 billion a year ago.
In explaining the jump, SOHIO
Chairman Alton Whitehouse said a
comparison between the 1979 and
1978 first quarters was not valid be
cause the company’s Alaskan North
Slope oil production was cut by re
pairs on a damaged pump station.
SOHIO gets 85 percent of its oil
from Alaska.
And, SOHIO Vice President Paul
Phillips stressed the company has
not yet taken a multimillion dollar
tax write-off for investing in the
troubled Pac-Tex pipeline project
from Long Beach, Calif., to Mid
land, Texas.
Standard Oil of California, an in
dustry giant, reported a 43 percent
gain to $347 million or $2.03 a share
from $243 million or $1.42 a year
ago.
Chairman Harold J. Haynes said
domestic petroleum earnings fell to
$106 million from $119 million
mainly because of the need to buy
oil in the spot market to meet cus
tomer commitments.
Chevron profits from foreign pe
troleum operations rose from $109
million to $187 million as a result of
the strengthening of the dollar and
reduction of foreign inventories,
plus price increases, the steadily ris
ing output from the Ninian field in
the North Sea and increased busi
ness from Canadian operations.
Continental Oil Co. of Stamford,
Conn., another major, earned $1.50
a share against 34 cents a year ago.
Conoco earned $161.8 million on
sales of $2.8 billion against $36.5
million on sales of $2.1 billion last
year.
The company said its profit oh
domestic petroleum operations was
$74.4 million, an increase of $23.1
million, and its foreign petroleum
profit was $58.3 million, up $19 mil
lion from a year ago.
In Washington, criticism of the
profits and the Carter adminis
tration’s plans to deal with them was
not hard to find.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,
D-Mass., chairing an energy sub
committee hearing of the Joint Eco
nomic Committee, attacked Carter s
proposed tax to recapture windfall
profits that will accrue to the oil
companies when their prices are al
lowed to rise from the average of
$12 a barrel now to the world level
of about $18 a barrel.
Kennedy called the tax plan “fun
damentally a charade,” and
suggested Congress would be un
likely to pass a windfall proposal as
strong as Carter wants.
Rep. Charles Vanik, D-Ohio, said
he intends to ask the Ways and
Means Committee to look at com
pany tax returns to find out exactly
what the profits are.
“I estimate that the profits of
American oil companies are re
ported at less than one-half their
true dimension,” Vanik said. “If the
American people really knew the
truth about oil profits for certain
elements of the oil industry, they
would explode with indignation.”
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said
he suspects Carter’s profits tax pro
posal is inadequate to control
windfall profits.
He added he would be “im
pressed and surprised” if the com
panies put their new revenues to
work in oil and gas exploration,
rather than in acquisition of com
panies in unrelated fields.
Wednesday was the third straight
day that most oil companies re
ported hefty first quarter gains.
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(rVASHINGTON — President
ier proposed Thursday a 50 per-
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1 to prevent oil producers from
ling excess revenues from the
mtrol of oil prices,
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preview earlier in the day and said
that they had reached agreement
with Carter on the tax, and forecast
that it would pass the House.
“The tax recaptures $2.4 billion
between now and Oct. 1 of the
windfall profits resulting from de
control,” Carter said, describing it
as a means “to prevent U.S. oil pro
ducers from reaping unearned ex
cess” revenues.
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