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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Even Texans are blaming corporate greed among the nation's oil industry for rising energy prices, according to a published report.
The Houston Chronicle reported Friday that a survey conducted among 753 Texans late last year for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers found that 40 percent think corporate greed is behind high gasoline prices. That led the 36 percent who blamed the conflict in the Middle East, and the 22 percent who pointed to the more benign forces of supply and demand.
The survey was commissioned after oil prices crossed into then-record levels of $55 a barrel. Since then oil prices have risen roughly another 20 percent, topping the $66 a barrel mark for the first time in early trading Friday.
The newspaper's report did not disclose how it came to have the results of the survey, nor did it have any comment from the Texas-based trade group.
The blame for high oil prices wasn't the only bad news for oil companies' image among the survey results.
The newspaper reports that 23 percent of Texans have a worse image of the industry than they did five years ago, and that more than 70 percent of Texans surveyed believe oil companies only clean up their environmental problems caused by oil production because the U.S. government forces them to do so. It also found 55 percent think energy companies are underregulated.
For a look at a special report on the oil crunch, click here.
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