Like many Americans, Douglas Meltzer says he has little doubt about who is to blame for his pain at the gas pump.

It's not Katrina or Rita, but Big Oil.

"For them, this is all about how big their profits are going to be," the New York cinematographer said as he filled up his sport-utility vehicle at a Manhattan pump. The fuel that would have cost him about £23 a few months ago has jumped to more than $60.

With gasoline prices up one-third from a year ago after two powerful hurricanes disrupted energy production, Big Oil has returned to the forefront of consumer consciousness as the latest corporate villain.

Large oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. were never the most popular corporate denizens in consumers' minds, but the sticker shock of $3-plus gas prices as the nation struggled in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath has unleashed a new fury among drivers.

As stunned Americans watched rampant looting on the streets of New Orleans after Katrina flooded the city, one Boston Globe writer opined that Big Oil was the biggest looter of them all.

Others have expressed similar sentiments.

"People feel that they were making large profits beforehand, but now they're making it off consumers at a time when the country is on its knees," said Pam Solo, president of the Civil Society Institute.

A survey by the nonprofit advocacy group found that nine out of 10 Americans felt big oil companies were gouging consumers at the gas pump and four out of five supported a windfall profit tax on them.

Oil companies say they have shown restraint in gasoline pricing in the aftermath of the hurricanes - and analysts say their poor margins from retail gasoline operations support those statements.

But Wall Street still expects the oil majors to post sharply higher quarterly profits this week because of jumps in crude prices and refining margins - and analysts fear that may be enough to deepen consumer anger and add to a growing political backlash.

Alarm bells have already gone off in Washington, with howls of protest at profiteering and calls by Democrats for windfall taxes and price caps on gasoline.

Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, for example, has introduced legislation for a special tax on Big Oil's profits.

"Everyone expects American businesses to make a profit and I don't begrudge them that," Senator Dorgan said last month. "But the big oil companies are now reaping an unbelievable windfall, and it's time for Congress to help consumers."

State regulators have also sprung into action, with New Jersey slapping three major oil companies with a lawsuit alleging gasoline overpricing.

But some analysts suggest the consumer outburst may be misplaced. Contrary to popular belief, they say, sky-high prices at the pump don't automatically mean Big Oil is overpricing or raking in money.

Mid-quarter updates from oil majors like Chevron and ConocoPhillips show they actually refrained from passing on the full impact of high energy costs to gasoline consumers immediately after the hurricanes, analysts say.

"They ate a lot of the costs of the gasoline price increases and took that as losses to avoid passing through really ridiculous price volatility," Paul Sankey of Deutsche Bank said.

As a result, margins from retail gasoline operations are likely to be substantially lower in the third quarter than in previous periods, Wall Street and the companies say. Still, Big Oil has clearly benefited from the surge in crude oil prices, which account for about half the cost of gasoline, and refining margins following the hurricanes.

That drove the roughly 30 per cent rise in third-quarter profit for the five largest oil companies as a group, Credit Suisse First Boston estimated.

Chevron and ConocoPhillips both pointed to sharply lower retail gasoline margins in their interim updates, but declined to elaborate.

Global market leader Exxon, which plans to report earnings next week, would not say how its retail margins have fared in the hurricanes' aftermath. In the past, it has said it makes a profit of a nickel on a gallon of gas.

Chief Executive Lee Raymond has also been quick to strike back against efforts to penalise oil companies, saying most of Exxon's profits come from overseas operations. In any case, no one called to help when oil prices fell precipitously to $10 a barrel in the late 1990s, he said.

"The question of how much money we should make - profit is not a dirty word," Raymond told Fox News recently. "The reason we make the money we make is, number one, we sell in enormous volume."