to four in no time at all.The survivors of this takeover wave has been enjoying extraordinary growth in their profits. Last year Exxon Mobile had a net income of $17 billion-an all-time record not just for that company, but for any company. Exxon Mobile's profit was double the amount the company netted the year before. One hundred percent profit increases were also posted by BP Amoco, Chevron and Texaco.Unlike the 1970s, when President Carter accused oil companies of staging "the biggest rip-off in history." There has been no aspersions cast on the industry by the Bust Administration, which is led by two former oil men. Instead, the Administration is promoting business-friendly solutions to the problem. Bust advocates oil drilling in areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Cheney is preparing an overall energy strategy that is likely to be heavy on regulatory relief. Congressional Republicans are eager to jump on this bandwagon. Senate Energy Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski of Alaska has introduced the National Energy Security Act (February 2001). Apart from encouraging Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling, the bill would, among other things, streamline environmental permitting and review procedures. While an amendment, specifically H.R. 4, has recently been introduced, which limits exploration activity in the ANWR, we are surely in over our heads. The history of Royal Dutch/Shell Group2000 profits: $12.7 billionRoyal Dutch/Shell is a peculiar British-Dutch partnership. The British side of the company had its origins in the efforts of Marcus Samuel to challenge Standard Oil in Asia. Samuel's "Shell" Transport and Trading Company eventually hooked up with a firm called Royal Dutch, which started out drilling for lighting oil in Sumatra. In the early 20th Century what became known as the Royal Dutch/Shell Group began acquiring properties in the U.S. market that were later collected under the name Shell Oil Co...
