Recent increases in the price of gasoline and home heating oil are the result of pressures on the worldwide petroleum market, not price-gouging by U.S. oil companies, according to petroleum executives.

For the third time in less than 20 years, consumers are venting their anger over higher fuel prices at domestic petroleum refiners and distributors. But the anger is misdirected, according to representatives of Exxon Corp., Webber Oil and the Maine Petroleum Association. They met Tuesday with members of the NEWS editorial board.

Paul Graffam, operations manager for Webber, said his company saw its gasoline costs rise by 34.6 cents per gallon from July 1 to Nov. 1. Webber has passed 32.3 cents of that increase to service stations, according to Graffam. In turn, service stations have increased prices an average of 34 cents to the consumer, he said.

“Right now, we have the same (profit) margin on a gallon of gasoline as we did five or six years ago,” said Graffam.

If Webber Oil isn’t making any money on the Persian Gulf crisis, who is? Not Exxon, according to R. Paul White and Dan Smith, business analysts with Exxon in Houston.

White and Smith acknowledged that oil companies have done a poor job in explaining their industry to the public. They presented Exxon’s view of the worldwide oil market with their data prepared in the accompanying question and answer format.

Q. Where does Exxon get its crude oil and how is it priced to Exxon?

A. Exxon Co. USA refineries process approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil every day. About 70 percent of Exxon’s crude is obtained from domestic sources. The remaining 30 percent is purchased directly from foreign sources. The price for … 75 percent of this foreign oil is set by contractual agreements with producing countries or third parties at the prevailing (market) price on or about the day of delivery at U.S. ports, not when it is loaded (onto ships) for export.

Q. Why did the price of gasoline go up so quickly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait?

A. Exxon’s U.S. prices are determined in the competitive market and have increased much less than crude oil costs since the Iraqi invasion.

Q. How does Exxon respond to those who say that big oil companies are taking advantage of the Iraq situation to gouge consumers?

A. From June 1 to Nov. 2, while crude prices rose about 43 cents per gallon, Exxon’s … price to distributors increased by about 26 cents a gallon.

Q. Will retail prices fall as quickly as they rose?

A. While it’s impossible to predict how prices will react, two studies conducted by the American Petroleum Institute show that retail prices do indeed fall as quickly as they rise. For example, from November 1985 to April 1986, crude oil costs fell rapidly, by 33 cents a gallon, and so did retail gasoline prices, by 32 cents a gallon.

Q. How will heating oil prices be affected by the continuing crisis?

A. Experience from last winter showed that heating oil prices — which rose dramatically in the face of record cold — fell by as much and as quickly, when weather conditions improved, as they had increased.

Q. Some say that Congress should enact a windfall profits tax similar to the one enacted in the 1970s. What is Exxon’s stand on this issue?

A. We think it’s a mistake to create disincentives to invest in the petroleum products business. Such an action would adversely affect exploration and production, as well as future energy supplies. The effect of the 1970s windfall tax was to divert money from the oil industry to the government. The tax contributed to our dependence on foreign oil by reducing the capital available for exploration and development.

Q. As a result of increasing oil prices, will Exxon increase its exploration budget to help find more domestic reserves?

A. Generally speaking, higher and more stable crude prices result in increased incentives for exploration. That fact is showing up in the U.S. (oil) rig count … from July 28 to Nov. 5, the total number of drilling rigs in use in the United States increased almost 15 percent, from 978 to 1,144.