Obama calls for ending oil subsidies

WASHINGTON, April 30: US President Barack Obama on Saturday said Congress should halt subsidising oil companies to invest in the energy of the future. "When oil companies are making huge profits and you`re struggling at the pump, and we`re scouring the federal budget for spending we can afford to do without, these tax giveaways aren`t right," Obama said in his weekly radio address. "They aren`t smart. And we need to end them," he added. The appeal came as US consumers chafed under gasoline prices that have climbed a dollar from a year ago to about an average $4 a gallon (3.8 litres) at the pump. Obama and potential opponents in next year`s presidential election have pushed the issue onto the front burner. On Tuesday, the president called on Congress to cut $4 billion in subsidies to profit-churning oil firms and he repeated his appeal on Saturday. Obama noted that this past week, the largest US oil companies announced that they had made more than $25 billion in profits in the first few months of 2011, up about 30 per cent from last year`s figures.—AFP