The New Shell Answer Man

June 18, 2007 — -- When the price of gas rises from the day before -- an "up" day -- it seems that all the media outlets are saying the same thing. "Pain at the pump" is the mantra du jour when talking about oil prices these days.

Dissatisfied consumers are certainly feeling that pain -- wouldn't you like to say a thing or two to an oil executive?

You may get your chance. John Hofmeister, the president of Shell Oil in the United States, is touring America to go face-to-face with the gas-buying public. He's hitting 50 cities on his tour, and consumers aren't pulling any punches.

Watch the full story tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. EDT

"The oil industry has a terrible, terrible image issue that we have to correct" because it has "lived in a bunker," according to Hofmeister.

Indeed, this is a phrase -- a talking point -- that comes up often in Hofmeister's well-polished speeches. There's a lack of credibility between gas-buyers and those that supply gas and oil, he said.

"The public doesn't know us," Hofmeister explained. "The public doesn't like us. The public doesn't trust us."

So Hofmeister has come out of the bunker. And it's a novel move for a CEO: traveling the nation, taking unscripted questions, and soliciting opinions and criticism from sundry groups of invited Americans.

The guest list, while not random, isn't entirely predetermined either. For example, in Jacksonville, Fla., the public relations firm Bursten Marsteller was asked to search the community to find a number of people -- a third from the business field, a third from government, and a third from the community at large -- to hear from Hofmeister.

In Jacksonville one such group (treated to an open bar) seemed charmed by Hofmeister; a guest even said, "He seemed like he would be good with his grandkids," and was even more charmed to hear a CEO for a major oil company speak with a frankness that seemed almost risque.