WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday attempted to link record gasoline prices to cozy ties between President George. W. Bush - a former Texas oil man - and five big energy companies who logged $36 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2008.

For the second time this year, executives from Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and three other big energy companies were called to testify before Congress to explain their record profits as gasoline prices hit a new record average $3.79 a gallon.

"The President once boasted that with his pals in the oil industry, he would be able to keep prices low," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "Instead, it is his pals in the oil industry who have benefited."

Five oil company executives held up their right hands and swore to tell the truth at the hearing, which also included ConocoPhillips and the U.S. subsidiaries of BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell.

Oil company executives repeated a familiar mantra that crude oil markets - not profiteering at the gasoline pump - is the prime reason behind high prices.

"As repetitive and uninteresting as it may sound, the fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work," said John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company.

U.S. crude oil futures hit a record $130.47 a barrel on Wednesday, and have risen sixfold since 2002 as surging demand in China and other developing economies strained supplies.

That hasn't stopped Democrats in the Senate from pursuing punitive measures like higher taxes aimed specifically at the five companies who appeared at the hearing.

Earlier this month, lawmakers unveiled a new energy package that would revoke $17 billion in tax breaks extended to big oil companies and slap a 25 percent windfall profits tax on firms that don't invest in new energy sources.

Before the hearing started, protesters from the Code Pink organization, which opposes the war in Iraq, chanted anti-oil industry slogans and held up signs like "No War For Oil."

"Stop ripping off the American people," said one protester, aiming her voice at executives seated at the front of the hearing room. "Ride your bike to work, everybody."

(Reporting by Chris Baltimore; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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