An Oil Execut' e
I
l II n
In Europe they are calling us
l the energy prgs. They say 1tCs our
l fault OPEC prrces are gomg up. "
l Robert T. MCCOWOH ,51 is executive vice A V     rrrillign barrels g day and We Cgr]-
president Ol Ashmnd Ol] I’"'CO’P°ml€Cl P · ’    E.; · V T sume 8 million barrels a day of gasoline
andpresident ofAshland Petroleum Comp. __;j     l_       abnel
Gny. His remarks were delivered at a `oint ·     ·`   ’       . .
meeting of the Alumni Board andjthe     *     H you tclok Callfomla ,mad€ E
Dwless County Alumni Club ln June-       {   of separate nation of it and divorced rt
Mccowanl G llle member Olllle UK Alumni —.e,_e g     3; rf,· ll.?   ~ [ _ ` from the rest of the United States, it
Assoclallonl ls also G Fellow Ol the Unlvep   .l    ll   would be the second largest consumer
sity and volunteer director of the Annual     El q. Of gasolme m the {leg World Only S90
Giving Fund.   o r   `   ond to the rest of the United States.
_a·»     lll   The rest of the world couldn`t believe
   { T k  ;r` °   the kinds of numbers that were becom- .
  K, gi  . ' _ l   _ mg klnown. In Europrithey are ialling us
, @5;% ·   .2rt. ` ‘   . e energ pigs. e sa " is our
By Robert T'McC0wan 51  italy:  l_ Y   _. · fault OPEC prices areygoihg up. vThe
l would like to relate to you some   8     i`’—r·   ' United States keeps consuming; you
things which might be helpful in trying   ·     don`t have any program (of conserva-
to understand what you are going to be   w  ~· SQ   tion and energy efficiency), and we
living with as citizens ofthis country.  ill; =   _r·_— I lr V   can’t believe what your government is
The free world, all of it, is consuming       ’   doing."
50 million barrels of crude oil a day     i¤»·‘ * YEl’¥1'»· For example, the only real deterrent
roughly and the free world has been six million barrels less than what was against rising prices in OPEC countries
producing about 50 million barrels of neededto meet demand. since the embargo was the Saudies who
l crude oil a day. Last year production Nobody really took much note. I could exercise some control. (Before
l was 51 million barrels a day and we had don`t think anybody was alarmed about the embargo, the oil companies con~
l a glut of crude and people talked about it. But during that period another inter- trolled prices. After the embargo. the
l "well, the energy situation is solved; it`s esting thing was happening. Beginning OPEC countries controlled prices. To-
l all a hoax. There`s plenty of oil." in January of this year and continuing day, nobody controls prices. lt`s out of
l Then lran began to have its problems. through February. March and April control. l`ll talk about that in a minute.)
T When that country fell, it was producing without anybody consciously filling their When the Saudies would get into the
l six million barrels of crude a day. lt is tanks, we consumed an amount of pe» OPEC meetings and the hawks would
easy to figure that if the free world is troleum products in this country that want to raise prices $2 or $3 a barrel.
consuming 50 million barrels and pro- was unbelievablel the Saudies would say to them "if you
ducing 50 million and six million barrels We. the United States. consumed 21 raise prices any further or if you raise it
· fall out of the producing part of the million barrels of petroleum a day in the to those levels, we are going to increase
l equation. we are down 12 percent in month of February and 8 million barrels our production to 15 million barrels a
l production and supply. Now all at once a day of gasoline. lf you take western day and we will flood the market with
l the free world was finding itself gaily go- Europe·England. Germany. France. crude. You saw us do it back in `77 and
l ing along consuming 50 million barrels a Spain. the whole smear except the `78 and we`ll do it again,"
l day while at the same time producing communist countriesmthey consume But all at once Senator Churchs
l 13