AP Worldstream: Chevron's CEO stands by recent Senate testimony: “The other oil industry executives who testified at the Nov. 9 hearing were: Lee Raymond, chairman of ExxonMobil Corp.; James Mulva, chairman of ConocoPhillips; John Hofmeister, chairman of Shell Oil Co.; and Ross Pillari, chairman of BP America Inc.”: Saturday 19 November 2005

Chevron Corp. Chairman David O'Reilly sent a letter to two U.S. Senators reiterating his earlier testimony that neither he nor anyone else from the oil company participated in an energy task force formed four years ago by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Sens. Pete Domenici, a Republican, and Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, asked Chevron and four other major oil companies to clarify their involvement in the task force earlier this week after a published report raised questions about the accuracy of their executives' testimony during a Senate hearing.

When asked during the Nov. 9 inquiry on oil industry profits whether any of the companies' representatives had participated in Cheney's task force, four of the executives said they did not and the fifth said he did not know.

Citing White House documents, The Washington Post subsequently reported that representatives from four of the companies had visited the White House complex and met with task force officials in early 2001.

That report prompted Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, to ask the Justice Department to investigate whether the executives might be guilty of giving false statements to Congress.

"My testimony ... was accurate," O'Reilly wrote in Friday's letter to Domenici and Bingaman. "I did not participate on the Vice President's Task Force, nor did any Chevron representative. I did not participate in meetings convened by the Task Force, nor did any Chevron representative."

O'Reilly acknowledged sending a February 2001 letter to President George W. Bush in an effort to influence the nation's energy policy. He said he shared that letter with more than 90 members of Congress.

Chevron wasn't included in the White House documents cited by the Post.

The other oil industry executives who testified at the Nov. 9 hearing were: Lee Raymond, chairman of ExxonMobil Corp.; James Mulva, chairman of ConocoPhillips; John Hofmeister, chairman of Shell Oil Co.; and Ross Pillari, chairman of BP America Inc.

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