Exxon/Mobil $9.9 billion profit for the quarter!!!

[HummerNewbie]

I don't agree with everything said but I do agree that it is pathetic to cry about how bad they have it after a storm, then have quarterly profits such as these

[slgcmg]

I wonder how the airline industry is taking this news. Some have closed down and some have filed bankruptcy due to the high price of fuel. The ones that are still around are reporting huge losses every quarter.

Yes we do live in a capitalist country, but I still think the government should be able to do something regarding this. If my local electric company has to go to congress to get a rate hike approved, I don't see the difference in controlling the profit of the big oil companies.

[JMVH2]

$ 2.29 for 87 Octains here in southeast Michigan Still high but much better than $ 3.18 from a month ago

[Hummertech]

If you don't like high gas prices than pay attention to who you vote for. A certain political party would love to have the mojority of Americans use mass transit. I think you know who I'm talking about. The same political party that cried about drilling for oil in the middle of nowhere in Alaska. The party that tries to stop any new oil refineries from being built.

[ratesguy]

Interesting discussion but some points are off the mark. No new refineries have been built since 1079. Capacity in refineries has had to be reconfigured almost yearly to account for Federal and State environmental requirements as to what can be in your gasoline(there are currently 14 different gasoline formula requirements). This results in some refining capacity being underutilized in some parts of the country when demand is not there. The republicans have introduced a bill to provide incentives to build new refineries but there is some question whether oil producers can supply more oil to be refined. As for natural gas, LNG could be a major factor in increasing supply as domestic production is in decline. Opening new areas for exploration must be done or prices are only going to go higher without more supply or a very healthy cut in demand. Also all oil companies contract for supply on a long term basis with the price generally tied to a market price, so when the price goes up on the market the contract price also goes up. Same pricing mechanism all the way to the retail outlet. The only protection for large swings in prices are financial hedges, which is what Southwest has used to stay profitable. Just some ramblings on a complicated issue.

[dna]

Another thing to consider. Absolute profit amounts mean nothing - profit is based on "return on capital". Another way to look at it is suppose you made $10,000 profit in a year, but had to invest $1,000,000 to do that. Would that be good - no it would be ****ty profit for what you invested (you made 1% on your money that you tied up for the year). But if you invested only $100,000 and made $10,000 that would be excellent (the money you tied up for a year made you 10%). The absolute number means nothing unless you know how much was invested.

All major oil companies have BBBIIILLLIIIOONNNSS of dollars invested in the infrastruture. In many of their divisions, the return is worse than if they just sold the capital and put it in the bank. Putting money in the bank or smart investments guarantes 4%+ (at least) and is risk free, so why would a company operate if it makes less than that such as the retail gas indusrty.

Believe it or not, the margin is so low at the retail gas station that most would be closed if you didn't buy cigs or pop or carwashes, etc (gas alone doesn't cut it). Keep in mind that an average station sits on land worth $1.5M and that the station costs $1.5M to build which only has a life of 10-15 years until it is obsolete and needs to be closed or rebuilt again. Thus in 10 years the company must recoup the 1.5M$ to build - that means the station must profit at least $150,000/yr just to cover the investment - what about profit?? So if you heard that your local gas outlet made $200,000 profit and so did the neighbouring one and so on (which adds up when a large company has thousands of stations), would you feel cheated. You shouldn't because this is what they need just to remain open, and I know first hand that many individual stations profit much less than this which is why their overall return is worse than just selling and putting it in the bank.

[ree]

Some people are just upset because they're missing out on the profits. You want some of it? Buy stock or invest in sector funds.

That said, it is a little hard to understand complaining about getting hit hard when you're making these kinds of profits. "Oh damn, we're only going to profit 9.9 billion instead of 10.9 billion this quarter!"

Perhaps some of the appearance, though, is the media's fault. It'd be interesting to see the number of stories where a gas company exec was complaining about being hit hard compared to the number of stories where the media was just saying that the industry was getting hit hard. Perhaps we have yet another media inspired biased story for more government regulation. Anyone got some stats?

[Bondage]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by sfox:
You are still missing the point guys, the individual franchise owner of a service station isn't seeing jack from that 9.9 billion, that is from the parent company (if anything the rise in fuel prices are hurting the sation owners badly because people CAN'T spend as much on odds and ends once inside). The other thing you are missing is that Exxon and others are reporting RECORD profits EVERY quarter....I don't know about you, but I'd love to own a business that I could make record profits every quarter, annnnd have the goverment come and "rescue me" when disaster hits one of my facilitites.

S </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


You reveal yourself with that last comment. You'd love it if it was you, but hate it when it is "them"? Interesting. As for the govt. rescuing them after a disaster....please provide some details? I know the oil companies are spending hugely to repair and get back on line their facilities. Are the Feds helping them in some way that I am not aware of?

Sean

[TootsSUT]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Hummertech:
If you don't like high gas prices than pay attention to who you vote for. A certain political party would love to have the mojority of Americans use mass transit. I think you know who I'm talking about. The same political party that cried about drilling for oil in the middle of nowhere in Alaska. The party that tries to stop any new oil refineries from being built. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

x2!!

[TootsSUT]

You reveal yourself with that last comment. You'd love it if it was you, but hate it when it is "them"? Interesting. As for the govt. rescuing them after a disaster....please provide some details? I know the oil companies are spending hugely to repair and get back on line their facilities. Are the Feds helping them in some way that I am not aware of?

Sean[/quote]
_______________________________________________

x2 again!! (pad)

Look! Look! I'm a Pwofesional Hummer Owner!!

[Bondage]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by sfox:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bondage:
You reveal yourself with that last comment. You'd love it if it was you, but hate it when it is "them"? Interesting. As for the govt. rescuing them after a disaster....please provide some details? I know the oil companies are spending hugely to repair and get back on line their facilities. Are the Feds helping them in some way that I am not aware of?

Sean </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sean,

The last comment in my last post was SARCASM, sorry, nothing revealed except the fact that you are too dense to see when someone is being a smartass. As to the federal govt helping, who has been rebuilding the pipelines between refineries?

Yes, we would all like to make as much profit as possible, but when the profit we make actual is detrimental to the economy of the country that is supporting that profit, well, that ain't right.

S </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Now wait...that was sarcasm? So you would NOT want to own a company with record profits and government rescues??? You're kidding, right? You wouldn't wanna own that???? Commie.

Sean

[TootsSUT]

[Hart1]

I agree with Cato.org regarding "Profiteering"

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Be that as it may, “profiteering” strikes most of us as unsavory. But it depends on the context. After all, were we serious about criminalizing price gouging, we would throw every member of the National Association of Realtors behind bars. Although the markup on housing is far more dramatic than the markup on gasoline, we don’t seem to mind. Why? Because most of us getting gouged on Sunday afternoon at the open houses hope one day to do likewise. Apparently, Americans approve of gouging as long as they’re the ones doing the deed.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Bondage]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Hart1:
I agree with Cato.org regarding "Profiteering"

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Be that as it may, “profiteering” strikes most of us as unsavory. But it depends on the context. After all, were we serious about criminalizing price gouging, we would throw every member of the National Association of Realtors behind bars. Although the markup on housing is far more dramatic than the markup on gasoline, we don’t seem to mind. Why? Because most of us getting gouged on Sunday afternoon at the open houses hope one day to do likewise. Apparently, Americans approve of gouging as long as they’re the ones doing the deed.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


You Capitalist Pig!!!!

Sean

[PARAGON]

Exxon/Mobil by itself receives about $25 Billion in US Government subsidies every year.

Those of you who do not think something is wrong with the current fuel situation are going to wake up to severely higher prices for everything else you buy a few years down the road. Everything you buy has to be transported and the over-inflated diesel fuel prices currently seen is killing shipping.

When fuel prices can rise $0.15 because there is the possibility of a hurricane but there is no market correction, especially as quickly, then you have something that lives outside the typical ideals of supply and demand.

Why does everyone complain about OPEC price fixing, when it's apparent the major oil companies do the same thing, but somehow some of you don't feel this is the case.

[PARAGON]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Hart1:
I agree with Cato.org regarding "Profiteering"

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Be that as it may, “profiteering” strikes most of us as unsavory. But it depends on the context. After all, were we serious about criminalizing price gouging, we would throw every member of the National Association of Realtors behind bars. Although the markup on housing is far more dramatic than the markup on gasoline, we don’t seem to mind. Why? Because most of us getting gouged on Sunday afternoon at the open houses hope one day to do likewise. Apparently, Americans approve of gouging as long as they’re the ones doing the deed.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Stupid