Oil Company Execs Defend Huge Profits

AP via New York Post ^ | 9 NOVEMBER 2005 | H. JOSEF HEBERT

[Tim n Texas]

"wind-fall profit tax". Aren't we already reaping a windfall profit from these companies? In 2004 for example, ExxonMobil invested over $11B in new property, plant, equipment... an investment in future energy supply for American... And they returned about $7B in dividends to shareholders... and a lot 401K accounts.

I wish congress would just STFU. They clearly don't have a clue how global commodity markets work, or the energy industry, or basic economics.

[NeoCaveman]

The federal government brought in 100 billion more than they had projected for the last fiscal year. Where are the complaints of government gouging?

[MonroeDNA]

Congress does this every 15 years or so.

Pompous idiots.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Preferably in the pockets of their shareholders, of course.

No problem with that but a company that is plagued by shutdowns because they are neglecting infrastructure upgrades and act of God events is not a very smart company.

[MonroeDNA]

Record profits for GM = good. Publically traded company; feel free to invest and make money.

Record profits for Exon = bad. Publically traded company; feel free to invest and make money.

[raygun]

"Quantities of technically recoverable oil are not expected to be uniformly distributed over the entire assessment area."

They know there's oil in the GOM, and yet they come up with dry wells all the time. How's that?

The one thing Lee stressed, as his experience taught him well, no matter how certain the geologist were, there's only one way to know for sure there's oil there: DRILL THE WELL. If it comes up dry, you're out $100 million. And based on my experience in the oil prospecting business, drilling 10 wells in what is certainly expected to contain oil reserves, may result in 9 dry holes. That put the kaibasche on oil exploration back in '81-'82 (when it cost only $25 million per well).

[tophat9000]

Question:

Do the oil company own the oil and set the price?...

In this day and age don't goverments own the oil (I.E.OPEC) control the tap so control the supply and set the price?

Oil company are more processing and distribution agents that make a percentage of the price...

Real Estate agents are doing the same thing...

Housing prices are going up due to low supply and hi demand and Real Estate agents and making a killing because they get a percentage of the price increase...

But Real Estate agents still just get the same percentage of the price....

They DO NOT control the price of housing.... Supply and demand does

[RightWhale]

If the petroleum industry is forced to give up some of the loot, and that tax goes into other things such as home heating programs, that will end up coming back around to bite us all if it reduces the ability of the petroleum industry to find and develop new oil/gas fields, or even to modernize and expand the existing refineries, not to mention building new refineries. Make them build new refineries whether they want to or not, that could well result in excessive refinery capacity ten years from now, and the petroleum industry would then be crippled. But, if the politicians want to play captain of industry, they certainly have the power if not the expertise.

[Alberta's Child]

"Infrastructure upgrades" are probably part of the normal business plan for a company of this size and in this type of industry, which means the profits are computed AFTER these expenditures have already been accounted for.

. . . a company that is plagued by shutdowns because they are neglecting infrastructure upgrades and act of God events is not a very smart company.

Maybe I'm really going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing the folks at Exxon-Mobil know a thing or two about running an energy company. LOL.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Maybe I'm really going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing the folks at Exxon-Mobil know a thing or two about running an energy company. LOL.

Famous last words.

[Phantom Lord]

I suggest that government is a bigger barrier to entering the market than is the oil companies.

[Phantom Lord]

I would like to know how many gallons of gas are sold in America in a year. Anyone know this number?

Then multiply it by the federal tax of 16.1 cents a gallon (I believe thats the amount) and see what the government "profited" in the past year.

[Prodigal Son]

you have to have gas.

Says who? I don't even own a car.

It sounds to me what you're saying is-

'I reckon I need it therefore you must provide it to me at a price I can afford'.

You know what we call that don't you? Well, the dems call it heaven. Californians call it rolling blackouts. The Brits call it the NHS. But it's commonly known under the generic heading of 'socialism'.

Marx is a sexy guy to some I guess...

[Cobra64]

It is AMAZING how many people do not understand Economics and Accounting.

My children were libs until I told them that if they didn't take three semester of Economics and two semesters of Accounting; I would no longer pay for their college tuition.

They both graduated with BSBA degrees. Now they are both more conservative than I, Ghengis Khan.

[Phantom Lord]

I do have to have gas. I didn't like the price so I changed something. I bought a used 2005 that gets better than 30 miles to the gallon and sold my minivan that I owned free and clear.

The gas savings alone are making about 3/4's of my car payment for me.

And since I sold my car privately I got twice as much for it and I consider that pretty much free money because it is actual cash in my hand.

[Cobra64]

Annoys me that my senator is one of the ones demanding a "windfall" tax.

Tell her to take Economics and Accounting classes.

Mark Levin is ripping the likes of your sister. Pure logic and FACTS.

[Mogollon]

Dem and Pub Rino alike are using this. Profits are a bad thing, I guess...

[Cobra64]

Who owns the oil Co's and reaps the profits stockholders....who are the stockholders..... for the most part the American people.

You miss the point. Can you read a P&L.

[ican'tbelieveit]

I am not sure they are neglecting anything. I heard a guy reading an editorial in the WSJ over the weekend that broke down how much in profits the oil companies were making (someone else has posted them on another thread, in the 9-10% range, not that big) and how much the companies were reinvesting in exploration and expansion. Something like 15 billion in 2004 alone.

Unfortunately, it is easy to pick on the oil companies because they are so evil, but in reality, I think the truth about their activities is being neglected.

[FreedomCalls]

If you want to talk about gouging, how much money goes into the campaigns to elect the politicians who sit on these committees? Where is that money spent? On TV commercials, newspaper and radio ads? Who sells the air time? Would that be... ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Time Warner...? These campaigns every two years means a wide-open spigot of cash flowing from campaign donors to Big Media!

Actually they passed a law saying that duing campaign season when the demand for TV commercial sime is at a peak, TV companies cannot charge more for campaign ads than their usual rates for regular commercials in the time preceding the campaign season. They basically exempted themselves from having to pay market rates because of supply and demand.