HOUSTON - Exxon Mobil Corp. posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company -- $40.6 billion in 2007 -- as the world's largest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at year's end.

Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, besting its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.

On the same day Hilary Clinton released her plan to reduce the US addiction to foreign oil imports and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the CEO of the largest oil company in the world is balking at the pursuit for energy independence.

Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has hit out at "isolationism" in energy policy (full article is firewalled) arguing that attempts to pursue energy independence are futile and counter-productive.

Tillerson stated that:

Regardless, no conceivable combination of demand moderation or domestic supply development can realistically close the gap and eliminate Americans' need for imports."

His remarks, made at the World Energy Congress in Rome, provided support for calls from Opec, the oil producers' cartel, for what the group calls "security of demand".

Looks like ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson dusted off Donald Rumsfeld's PR play-book in explaining Exxon's stance on global warming, here's the quote:

There's much we know and can agree on around the climate change issue, and there’s much that we just don’t believe we do know…and we want to have a debate about the things we know and understand, the things we know about that we don’t understand very well, and the things we don’t even know about around this very complex issue of climate science. So that will continue to be our position."

Thanks for clearing that up Mr. Tillerson.

Rep. Brad Miller (D-North Carolina), chair of the House Subcommittee on Science and Technology, fired off a strong letter (pdf) to ExxonMobil demanding that the oil giant hand over documents relating to all grants awarded so far in 2007 by recipient

Could this be the first step in a Congressional hearing similar to Rep. Henry Waxman's famous Big Tobacco Hearings?

Sure looks that way.