NEW YORK -- John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., followed ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson and Chevron CEO David O'Reilly on the media hot seat on NBC's The Today Show yesterday.
Katie Couric asked Hofmeister if it would help the company's reputation if it could demonstrate that it felt the pain consumers are feeling at the pump by lowering its retail gasoline prices and unilaterally decreasing the wholesale value of gasoline.
He said, We do feel the pain. All of our employees pay the same price that every other [image-nocss] consumer pays for gas. But lowering the wholesale price [of our gasoline] just to arbitrarily lower it would [cause] a run on our gas, and we'd run out. The markets set prices, and we follow the markets, he said. We're in a very delicate supply and demand relationship, and as long as it's so close, and the supply is just keeping up with the demand, that's what is really driving the high prices. Our job is to get more gas into the supply line so that we can make sure that people have energy security and energy availability.
Couric said, It seems as if you and the other major oil companies have a PR problem on your hands. You're almost as reviled as much as journalists and lawyers right now. What are you going to about that? How are you going to change the public perception that you guys are greedy?
Hofmeister answered, Our industry needs to do a better job of getting the story out. From Shell's standpoint, we're going to take the steps to start a 50-city tour. We're going totalk to consumers, talk to policymakers and see if we can't help tell our story better.
Click here to view the complete interview with Hofmeister.
Click here to view the complete interview with O'Reilly.
And click here to view the complete interview with Tillerson.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.