Franklin Daily

Congressmen Maintain Massive Portfolio of Oil and Gas Investments
By Michael Beckel

This information comes from OpenSecrts.org

Own stocks in oil or gas companies? If you're a member of Congress, the odds are about one-in-five that the answer is yes.

Oil and gas industry holdings are some of the most popular investments among lawmakers and their spouses, and in recent years have grown in value, according to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics.

This comes at a time of notable congressional scrutiny of energy- and oil industry-related issues, from April's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to battles over climate change policy and energy legislation.

In 2004, 130 lawmakers reported investments worth a minimum of $21.3 million in the oil and gas industry. The exact values of their investments are not known because lawmakers are allowed to report their assets and liabilities in broad ranges. Given this, these assets might have been worth up to $48.2 million.

Nevertheless, four years later, the value of oil and gas holdings among members of Congress increased by at least 20 percent.

In 2008, the most recent year for which data is available and analyzed, 115 members of the House and Senate together reported a minimum of $25.6 million invested in oil and gas assets. (Because lawmakers report the value of these holdings in broad ranges, these investments could have been worth nearly three times as much: $70.7 million.)

During this five-year period, the minimum value of the average oil-invested lawmaker rose even more, going from an average minimum value of about $164,000 in 2004 to about $223,100 in 2008 -- an increase of 36 percent.

Of course, during this five-year period there was also some oscillation.

The value of all oil and gas assets held by members of Congress and their spouses actually peaked in 2007, at a minimum of $35.2 million and a maximum of $85 million. That’s equivalent to about $304,000 per invested lawmaker -- or about $733,000 per invested lawmaker if the maximum values are closer to reality.

Year	Min. Overal Value	Max. Overall Value	# Average (Min.)	Average (Max.)
2004	$21,329,428	$48,280,060	$164,073	$371,385
2005	$25,001,661	$58,488,177	$182,494	$426,921
2006	$30,247,040	$72,567,	$227,421	$545,621
2007	$35,284,90	$85,037,960	$304,180	$733,086
2008	$25,663,613	$70,704,201	$223,162	$614,819

ExxonMobil is the most popular oil-related investment among members of Congress. This investment accounts for somewhere between 22 and 31 percent of the value of all congressional oil and gas holdings in each year between 2004 and 2008.

Together, investments in ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and BP accounted for 54 percent of the total value of all congressional oil and gas holdings in 2004. Five years later, investments in these five companies still accounted for 44 percent of the minimum value of the overall congressional portfolio in this industry:

To reade the entire article, go to: OpenSecrts.org

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