An early September internet survey asked readers for their opinions of what they thought was responsible for the recent spike in US gasoline prices. The choices included the blackout in the Northeast, a broken pipeline in Arizona, price gouging, and limited supply.
Guess which choice won with a whopping 89% of the vote?
That's because the general public assumes, automatically, that "Big Oil" is shafting them every time it gets the chance. Supply and demand, acts of God, labor problems, revolutions, etc., are not factors to be considered.
We may be able to understand why prices increase (see related article, p. 18), but we don't seem to be able to explain it to the consumers.
Why is that?
Visibility
Unfortunately, this poor attitude towards the industry comes in part from what the public itself sees at the gas pump.
Forget explaining the complexity of producing gasoline. The public perception of the industry comes in large part from the marketing segment—the end of the vast chain the public sees as the oil industry. The service station is the oil industry to most people.
And those same people feel they are being manipulated every time they see the numbers getting bigger on the signs over the filling stations just before holidays, justified or not.
Mass media
Besides personal experience at the gas pumps, this attitude also comes from how energy is portrayed by the mass media.
We know that in times of price increases, political demagogues by the score line up at the doors of the TV studios in order to get their few moments of attention. They beat their breasts, tear their clothing, pitch dust in the air, and wail sorrowfully for their constituents who are being mercilessly robbed by the oil barons.
It is always inexpensive programming to shuffle through the studios the herds of "experts" hawking their books or political agendas, no matter what the subject. TV news producers love them.
But these attitudes toward the oil industry have a more lasting effect than just a temporary bit of grumbling about gasoline prices or an indignant call for a congressional hearing. Whether we want to accept it or not, there is a relationship between gasoline pump prices jumping just before a holiday and leasing and drilling bans on most of the Outer Continental Shelf and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Can the distortions and half-truths of prime-time TV be countered?
Most of us have been to numerous industry meetings where speakers talk about the need for public education. After all, if we could just sit people down for a couple hours, get a few charts together, give them a quick course in geology, and show them how an offshore platform works, they would be more understanding.
Words, however, won't do the job.
One group takes action
It just so happens that some people in the industry have stopped talking about the problem and started doing something. And they are quietly making an impact.
The Oklahoma Energy Resources Board (OERB) was founded in 1993 by a group of producers and royalty owners to counter the industry's negative public image. They recognized that all talk and no action was doing nothing to solve problems.
So the producers and royalty owners took action. And together with the Oklahoma state legislature formed the OERB. It is funded through a voluntary 0.1% assessment on the sale of oil and natural gas in Oklahoma. The money goes into a special fund, but any producer who chooses not to participate may request a refund in the first quarter of each year. Historically, OERB says, 95% of the contributions remain in the fund.
OERB cleans up old well sites that are identified by field inspectors from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Since the program started, more than $19 million has been spent on the restoration of 4,500 old sites. And remember, that is at no cost to the landowners or taxpayers.
OERB TV ads show examples of before-and-after site restoration.
In addition to site reclamation, OERB provides seminars for training public school teachers, plus the supplies to use in classrooms and on field trips. Teaching the basics to children, it is reasoned, will pay off with better-informed decision-makers down the road.
OERB is setting a positive example of what the industry can do for its public image, and other states are beginning to take notice.
