Exxon's $10B fill-up: Cashing in on crunch

Boston Herald ^ | Brett Arends

[Cobra64]

I forgot to add that oil is a world commodity. Do you do any futures trading?

[Eva]

I advised all of you, last year, who are complaining about the price of gasoline, that the best way to counter the higher prices was to buy stock in one of the oil companies. Conoco-Phillips stock more than doubled before it split and is back to 3/4 of its high.

Don't complain, just get in on the action.

[ChildOfThe60s]

The oil companies better do something to get the prices down

How? By drilling for more oil in ANWAR or the Gulf? Or a hundred other places that the government has forbidden exploration? They have certainly made no effort to do that.

How about they start "giving back" by selling to the lowest bidder? /eyes cross

Geez, get real.

[eeriegeno]

OK, here's the solution: invent alternative energy technology that is cheaper than gasoline. Then everyone will buy it instead of gasoline, you will get rich, and Exxon will be put out of business.

That's not so far fetched as you might think? And I look forward to the day that it happens. Watching the turban headed folks drink a 'light-sweet-crude' cocktail will be great! Remember, they also once said that a buggy couldn't move unless a horse pulled it.......

[Radioactive]

Well, then, let's put price controls in place and that'll solve the problem.

Nope...no price controls for me....I want to make nuclear the number one way to generate power.

I also want to use the Karrick process to convert coal to oil, natural gas & coke......plus with the Karrick process we could give away the oil and still make money.

We need to unleash the american ingenuity and allow our people to undercut the oil companies with other ways of making power and transporting ourselves.

Screw the oil companies...there is so much oil in this world that we have enough alone in the US to last over 3,000 years.

Oil is not a fossil fuel.....it is part of the earth process of heat, pressure and rock.

We are being lied to....Peak oil and all.

[oblomov]

>>Oil is not a fossil fuel

I agree with you comments. There is much evidence to support the abiogenic theory of oil formation.

I agree that nuclear needs to be a leading source for grid power.

Wind power is also economic, and is cheaper than oil or NG but a bit more expensive than coal for energy production. The Great Plains have been called "the Saudi Arabia of wind".

Also, most homes could convert to geothermal heat pump heating/cooling rather inexpensively (costs are generally recouped in 2 years since there is a substantial reduction in grid power consumption, and one would no longer need heating oil or NG).

The question is, how do we reduce consumption of oil for transportation, which is the primary use of it, without adversely affecting the economy?

The Peak Oil crowd gleefully admonishes us that economic growth will not be possible in the future. To me, such a statement seems ridiculous, a fatalistic underestimation of human potential.

[oblomov]

I'm all for it. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm confident that it will. High oil, NG, and gasoline prices are allowing enormous capital to be directed to alternative energy R&D.

[atlaw]

Yes to all questions in your posts 100 and 101 (although with respect to futures trading, I don't personally trade, but I represent several companies who operate O&G commodity hedge services). Now, while you've provided a nice resume, and again reiterated some platitudes about the ability to read p&l's and balance sheets (whatever the heck that has to do with the issue), you still haven't addressed the original request -- how manipulations of supply, price, and production by a tight-knit and effectively monopolistic commodity manufacturing group amounts to "basic business".

And remember, we're talking about domestically refined product here, not crude production.

[bigsigh]

massive government regulation and taxation and you call it a free market. LOL!

[trubluolyguy]

Sorry, forgot my sarcasm tag....won't happen again.

[gogogodzilla]

Prove it.

If gas prices keep rising, there are people who will find that they can no longer afford it and still eat.

So, if they choose to eat, then...

How do you get to work without a gasoline in your car? (No funny stuff like finding a new job, either. As if the same job they had can be found everywhere, including a block away.)

Without transportation to work, how do you keep that job? (Remember, car-pooling only works if you live near your co-workers. Oh, and not every place in America has public transportation.)

Without a job, how do you earn money?

Without money, how do you buy food, clothing, or pay a mortgage?

False, my @ss.

[gogogodzilla]

And what I can see is that Exxon has $10 billion that they can invest in new refineries and new oil exploration.

What I don't see is Exxon spending 1/4, or 1/2, or even 1/10 of that profit in doing so. If they are, then they really need a better PR staff. But I doubt that they are.

And it is well known that refineries are very expensive to build. But I serious doubt that they cost more than $10 billion.

And remember, Exxon earned the $10 billion in ONE quarter. Which means that if the other quarters are roughly similar, Exxon stands to make $40 billion profit in a year.

Does anyone here know what percentage of their profit they are investing in new oil exploration or new refinery construction?

[Cobra64]

Not to mention R&D, cost of building tanker ships, building / retrofitting service stations. Now with Katrina, a few more billion to get the offshore platforms repaired and on-line. Ever worked in the oil industry? My wife of 33 years did. She worked for Texaco Oil in their World headquarters. She wrote the Texaco Europe piece in the company's annual report, wrote speeches for DeCrane, Peter Bijur and Paul B. Hicks. We hosted international guests on the President's cup and presented awards to the Dutch, Spanish, and Portugal. So, I guess we don't have a flippin' clue about the oil industry.

Before people start whining about the eeevil oil companies, people need to read a FINANCIAL STATEMENT! *rolling eyes at stupidity*

[Cobra64]

Then you should be curious to know their ROI and after tax earnings relative to total revenues. Anyone own a share of stock and report these percentages? Raw numbers are meaningless unless they are relative to revenues and returns.

[Ronzo]

This article is a POS. For instance:

Oil companies came under new fire yesterday when it emerged that ExxonMobil's profits are likely to soar above $10 billion this quarter on the back of the fuel crisis. That's $110 million a day, and more net income than any company has ever made in a quarter.

Wal-Mart makes 142 million A DAY the last time I checked, which was about a year ago...might be a little less now. But it's still a lot more than Exxon makes a day, and Wally World isn't even an oil company.

Anyway, it's not the size of the profit that counts, it's how it compares to last year's profit that tells you something.

Still, a $10 billion profit is pocket change compared to a $200 billion welfare program for New Orleans...

[eraser2005]

Not that EPA ratings are worth the paper they're printed on.

They're definitely not, and some of that is because of the change in EPA test methods you mentioned. They adjusted numbers downwards because of complaints that the tests were not realistic. Yet all vehicles weren't 22% off the old test method - some were closer and some were further off. And then there's driving habits.

My Taurus is rated at 19/26. I get 23/32. Imagine that! A government test that doesn't work!

[eraser2005]

Wal-Mart makes 142 million A DAY the last time I checked Actually, Walmart makes about $10 billion in profit per year lately, which amounts to $27.4 million per day, nowhere close to $142million....