"As demand grows in the next decade, we will not have the oil-production capacity we will need to meet demand," CEO John B. Hess said in a speech last week at CERAWeek, a Houston conference held by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, according to Bloomberg. "The $140-per-barrel oil price of three years ago was not an aberration--it was a warning."
Click herefor the full prepared text of his CERAWeek presentation.A recent CSP Daily News poll asked, "In which one of the following instances, if any, would you be most OK with an increase in the federal excise tax on gasoline? Of the approximately 190 responses, more than 44% said "never," more than 20% said "to end dependence on foreign oil," nearly 16% said "a matter of national security," 7% said "to help balance the federal budget," more than 5% said "other," more than 4% said "anytime as long as it's the same across the board" and about 3% said "to accelerate shift to alternative fuels/green technology."Amid unrest in the Middle East, oil futures touched $106.95 a barrellastTuesdayin New York, the highest intraday price since September 26, 2008. The average price of regular gasoline at the pump in the United States has risen 12% in the last three weeks to $3.509 a gallon, the most since October 5, 2008, according to AAA.
Hess said the debate on raising gasoline taxes should wait until the economy recovers. The U.S. government currently imposes an 18.4-cent-a-gallon levy, about 38% of average per-gallon gasoline taxes, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). Hess, based in New York, produced an average of 419,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day last year.
"Until the economy's growing and people are put back to work, I would not encourage the country to have a debate on energy taxes," Hess told reporters in a news conference after his speech. "Once our economy is back on its feet and people are back to work, it should be something that gets full examination and full consideration."
API, the trade group for oil companies of which Hess is a member, has not taken a position on the $1 gasoline tax, spokesperson Bill Bush told Bloomberg. Climate solutions should be efficient, market based and comprehensive with the costs and burdens distributed equitably across society, he said.
The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA), of which Hess is a member, has not endorsed a specific proposal for an increase in gasoline taxes, Charles T. Drevna, president of the trade group, told the news agency.
The United States needs to "moderate" demand for oil and increase supply, Hess said. That includes boosting current corporate average fuel-economy standards that call for a 35-mile-a-gallon target for cars and light trucks by 2016, he said.
The government should not eliminate tax provisions that encourage drilling and should allow the industry to "get back to work" in the Gulf of Mexico, Hess said.
The United States also needs to "get serious about climate change once our economy recovers," he added. Increasing the gasoline tax and levying a $10-a-ton tax on power-plant emissions would raise $200 billion a year to reduce deficits and fund alternative fuel research, he said.
Carbon taxes should be "introduced over a five-year period and only when other major industrial powers" do the same, said Hess.
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