Bush Rejects Big Oil Windfall Tax

Says Industry Should Reinvest Big Profits To Produce More Energy

(CBS/AP) 

The San Ramon, Calif.-based company's net income, reported Friday, translated into $1.80 per share, two cents above the average estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Financial. That compared with a profit of $2.7 billion, or $1.28 per share, in the same January-March period last year.

Revenue totaled $54.6 billion, a 31 percent increase from $41.6 billion last year.

"Higher earnings in the first quarter were primarily driven by the performance of our upstream business," chairman and CEO Dave O’Reilly said in a statement. "Prices for crude oil and natural gas were strong during the period."

Chevron released its results after two of its biggest rivals, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp., had already provoked public outrage with similarly large first-quarter profits. Combined, the three oil companies earned $15.7 billion during the three months of the year.

Travelers are feeling the impact of rising oil prices at the airport as well as at the pump as airlines increasingly feel the pinch of rising fuel prices.

In a hastily arranged news conference, Mr. Bush also criticized efforts to sing the national anthem in Spanish. "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English," he said.

He also rejected calls in Congress to abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "The lessons of Katrina are important. We've learned a lot here at the federal level," Mr. Bush said. "We're much more ready this time than we were the last time."

Mr. Bush also addressed international issues. He criticized efforts by the Sudanese government to thwart efforts by the U.N. and other multinational organizations to take a firmer control of fighting atrocities in the Darfur region. "My message to them is we expect there to be full compliance with the international desire for there to be peace in the Darfur region," he said. And, the president said "the world is united and concerned" about Iran's suspected desire to build nuclear weapons and that he will work with other countries to achieve a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

But the president sidestepped a question on whether recent staff changes at the White House could help reverse his presidency's slump in the polls. "I think it's necessary to continue doing — achieving results for the American people. We've got big challenges for this country, and I've got a strategy to deal with them," Mr. Bush said.