Big Oil faces Congress on profits, mergers

U.S. oil company executives went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to defend their companies' billions of dollars in record profits that have sparked public outrage and said industry mergers have helped consumers.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the effects that mergers of oil and natural gas companies have had on energy supplies and what the firms plan to do to end Americans' pain at the pump.

Executives from oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, the U.S. units of BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc and major oil refiner Valero Energy Corp. testified under oath.

Their companies earned well over $100 billion in collective profits last year.

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