WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Chevron Corp. CEO David O'Reilly says Big Oil is not to blame for skyrocketing gas prices.



Chevron Corp. CEO David O'Reilly says world demand for crude oil has been growing, which is affecting gas prices.



In an interview Tuesday with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "The Situation Room," O'Reilly said high demand and a short supply of crude oil were key factors causing gas prices to spike. Despite reports of record profits among major oil companies, O'Reilly downplayed a recent poll in which Americans said corporate avarice played a role.



O'Reilly also discussed President Bush's and GOP presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's proposal to lift the ban on new offshore drilling as well as presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's call for taxing companies' windfall profits.



The following is an edited version of the show's transcript:



Blitzer: You know you have -- you and ExxonMobil, the Big Oil companies --have a huge public relations problem. In all the recent polls, when the American public is asked, who do you blame for these huge gas prices at the pump, they -- more than any other single source -- they blame Big Oil. They blame you. What's going on?  Watch Blitzer grill O'Reilly »



O'Reilly: Well, I don't think they blame us as much as you think. It looks to me like there's a lot of blame to go around.



Blitzer: There's other blame, but more than any other single source, they blame Big Oil.



O'Reilly: It depends on the poll you look at.



Blitzer: The recent Gallup Poll.



O'Reilly: Let me point out what we're trying to do about this because I think the issue here is one of supply. And prices are high today, but it's fundamentally a concern about oil supplies -- 75 percent of the price of gasoline is related to crude oil.



We're very dependent on crude oil imports. The total world demand for crude oil has been growing steadily over the last decade. And that is affecting everybody's price. So it is a concern, but we need to work on the supply side, as well as the demand side, to bring change.



Blitzer: Because you have had record profits, right?



O'Reilly: We're investing those record profits.



Blitzer: But billions and billions of dollars in profits, more than ever before.



O'Reilly: Yes, but it's a big business. And on a return-on-sales business, we're right in there with the average of American business today. What we're doing is investing that money. For example, last year, we did make a lot of money, $18.7 billion. This year, our capital investment in new supplies is $22.9 billion, almost $23 billion.



Blitzer: You know that Barack Obama says if he's president, he wants a windfall profits tax. He wants to take a chunk of your profits right now and give it back to the American people. John McCain opposes that, as you know. So I assume you would like to see John McCain elected president?  Watch McCain explain his stance »



O'Reilly: Well, I would like to see no windfall profit tax. And I will tell you why. First of all, we are already heavily taxed as an industry. Our tax rates last year were at 45 percent, compared with in the 30s for the average of all industry.



Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, we're investing the money. If you take the money away, it will reduce investment, reduce supply and have exactly the opposite effect of helping the problem that you have referred to.



And, thirdly, we have done it before. We have had windfall profit taxes. Congress has studied them about 30 years ago. And what happened under those circumstances is supplies dropped domestically, and we became even more dependent on imported oil. You don't want to do that today.



Blitzer: Here's how Sen. Obama put it. Listen to this.



Obama (in a video clip
What did O'Reilly say? what company ceo is talking? What did O'Reilly say is the problem?
Big Oil is not to blame for skyrocketing gas Chevron Corp. world demand for crude oil has been growing, which is affecting gas prices.
question: What did O'Reilly say?, answer: Big Oil is not to blame for skyrocketing gas | question: what company ceo is talking?, answer: Chevron Corp. | question: What did O'Reilly say is the problem?, answer: world demand for crude oil has been growing, which is affecting gas prices.