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Exxon Mobil made nearly $1,500 per second
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| dimadelux |
| quote: | Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter.
That profit works out to $1,485.55 a second.
That barely beat the previous corporate record of $11.66 billion, also set by Exxon in the fourth quarter of 2007.
But Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) profit fell short of Wall Street estimates.
Analysts predicted the company, the world's largest publicly traded oil firm, would make $12.1 billion in profit on $144.4 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.
Exxon shares fell about 2% in pre-market trading.
Exxon was both helped and hurt by high oil prices.
As an oil producer, the company makes a lot of money when crude prices rise. Exxon made $10 billion from selling oil in the latest quarter, up nearly 70%.
But as a refiner, it must also buy crude oil to turn into gasoline. Exxon actually buys more crude than it sells.
Profits from its refining business totaled $1.6 billion in the quarter, less than half of what they were last year.
"Record crude oil and natural gas realizations were partly offset by lower refining and chemical margins, lower production volumes and higher operating costs," Exxon said in a statement.
Oil prices in the quarter were nearly twice as high as the same time last year, while gasoline prices were an average of nearly 30% higher.
Exxon spent $7 billion in the second quarter finding and producing more new oil, up 38% from last year. Still, oil and natural gas production from the company fell 8%. Even excluding special events such as a labor strike in Nigeria and seizure of fields in Venezuela, production slipped 3%.
The company returned $10.1 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, 12% more than last year.
On an earnings-per-share basis, Exxon made $2.22. That was still lower than analysts had expected, but 24% higher than last year, a gain Exxon attributed to its aggressive stock buyback plan.
The big international oil companies have been criticized for plowing much of their profits back into stock buybacks and other programs to benefit shareholders, as opposed to exploring for more oil which could bring down the price of crude for everyone.
"While oil companies are earning record profits and gas prices are soaring, the largest oil companies have invested more resources in stock buybacks than U.S. production," said Congressional Democrats in a press release shortly after Exxon announced its earnings.
Other critics charge the oil companies with deliberately restricting production in an attempt to keep prices high.
The industry says it's investing as much as it can in finding new oil, but is having a hard time given the shortage of workers and equipment in the sector.
Recent efforts by countries such as Russia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan to gain greater control of their own domestic oil resources have also hampered the ability of international oil companies to increase production.
In addition to making hefty profits, Exxon also had a hefty tax bill. Worldwide, the company paid $10.5 billion in income taxes in the second quarter, $9.5 billion in sales taxes, and over $12 billion in what it called "other taxes."
But with Americans paying nearly $4 a gallon for gas, oil company earnings have been political fodder of late.
Congressional Democrats said they are having a conference later in the day to call for an end to tax breaks for big oil firms.
Several bills have been introduced in Congress to enact a 'windfall' profits tax on these earnings, or at the very least eliminate manufacturing tax exemption oil companies now enjoy. Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama wants to tax oil companies at a special rate every time crude goes over $80 a barrel.
Most plans would either use this newfound tax money to fund investments in renewable energy, or give it to low income Americans struggling with high energy prices.
But so far those efforts have been blocked - mainly by Republicans - who say raising taxes on oil companies will only discourage investments in finding new oil and raise the price of crude. |
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/31/new...=rss_topstories
now thats a profit! |
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| KiNeTiC ENeRgY |
| so are there still believers in non-artificial pricing going on? |
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| Ian |
similar ish story here, centrica which owns british gas put prices up on tuesday by 35% for gas & 9% for electricity, after a 15% rise in both in Jan, then a day later announced profits of £992million, but complained it was down 10%
obviously not on the same level, but it shows a bit of a nerve |
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| diggerz |
Ian, the worst thing about Gas prices in the UK is that eighty percent of the price is taxed by the government.
Or, so i heard... |
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| KiNeTiC ENeRgY |
| quote: | Originally posted by diggerz
Ian, the worst thing about Gas prices in the UK is that eighty percent of the price is taxed by the government.
Or, so i heard... |
that sounds a bit excessive |
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| diggerz |
| quote: | Originally posted by KiNeTiC ENeRgY
that sounds a bit excessive |
i think i heard that on Fox Business TV about a month ago. |
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| iammesol |
| You can't trust Bas. |
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| diggerz |
true dat sam. truth knockin'
| quote: | From 2007-10-01 the main road fuel (petrol and diesel) duty rate in the UK is GBP£0.5035 per litre (GBP£2.2890/imperial gal or GBP£1.9059/US gal). The rate for biodiesel and bioethanol is £0.3035/L (GBP£1.3797/imperial gal or GBP£1.1489/US gal).[1] Value Added Tax (VAT), currently at 17.5%, is also charged on the price of the fuel and on the duty. At a pump price of 128.8p/litre (typical for diesel as at May 2008), this would put the combined tax at 69.53p/litre, or approximately USD$5.20 per US gallon. Thus without tax, the retail price would be 59.26p per litre, making a combined tax rate of 117%.
Diesel for use by farmers and construction vehicles is coloured red and has a much reduced tax.
Jet fuel used for international aviation attracts no duty, and no VAT.
wiki wiki |
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| Ian |
| quote: | Originally posted by diggerz
true dat sam. truth knockin' |
I meant gas/leccy in my first post, not 'gas' as in 'petrol' but I see your point :) How does the UK rate of tax on fuel compare to the US ? |
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| diggerz |
| they vary by state, but it's roughly 25 cents per gallon plus 18.4 federal tax making the total 47 cents per gallon. |
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| Ian |
| ok, my currency conversion skills are bad & I may be using the wrong figures anyway, but does that make it about 4x more in the UK ? (going by the £1.90 per us gallon) with there being about 1.9usd to the £ last time I checked (altho im more used to the canadian dollar due to the family there) |
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