The Quarterly Reports are Coming In - Oil Companies Have Unbelievale Record Profits

[MagicMtnDan]

Exxon Mobil, Shell post record profits
(Keep in mind these are numbers for the third quarter of this year!)
STEVE QUINN
Associated Press
IRVING, Texas - High prices for oil and natural gas propelled Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC to their best quarterly results ever on Thursday, with Exxon becoming the first U.S. company ever to ring up quarterly sales of $100 billion.
To put Exxon's performance into perspective, its third quarter revenue was greater than the annual gross domestic product of some of the largest oil producing nations, including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The world's largest publicly traded oil company also set a U.S. profit record with net income of almost $10 billion, according to Standard & Poor's equity market analyst Howard Silverblatt.
Both Exxon and Shell said their performances were buoyed by higher crude-oil and natural-gas prices, even as output suffered due to a busy hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico.
Exxon's net income ballooned 75 percent to $9.92 billion, compared with $5.68 billion a year ago. The previous oil-industry earnings record was Exxon's 2004 fourth-quarter profit of $8.42 billion. Revenue grew to $100.72 billion from $76.38 billion in the prior-year period.
At Shell, third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders grew 68 percent to $9.03 billion, compared with $5.37 billion a year earlier. Including income attributable to minority interests, profit rose 67 percent to $9.39 billion at the Anglo-Dutch company. Revenue rose 8 percent to $76.44 billion, in spite of an 11 percent decline in oil and natural gas output.
"We are capturing the benefits of high oil and gas prices and refining margins," Shell Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser said, referring to the profit margin on each barrel of crude that is refined into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Excluding certain items, Exxon's profit was $8.3 billion, or $1.32 per share, or slightly below the $1.38 per share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Shell said adjusted earnings on a current cost of supplies basis - a measurement that strips out the fluctuating value of the company's oil and gas inventories - was $7.37 billion, sharply higher than analysts' forecasts.
Shares of Exxon rose 56 cents, or 1 percent, to $56.76 on the New York Stock Exchange, where U.S.-traded shares of Shell rose $1.11, or 2 percent, to $60.61.
Exxon said the hurricanes slashed U.S. production volumes by 5 percent from a year ago, while global daily production slipped to 2.45 million barrels of oil equivalent from 2.51 million barrels.

[MagicMtnDan]

Facts:
* No new refineries in the United States in 30 years
* Less competition - fewer oil companies thanks to the Federal Government allowing them to merge
* Federal and state laws combine to require a 10-year process to approve new refineries
* Hurricanes and the threat of hurricanes enable oil companies to cut back on their supplies and raise prices
* There is NO incentive for oil companies to increase production or build refineries - they turn the knobs controlling oil production, oil processing, availability and prices at the pump.
The government must step in and, like they did in the past, tax them on windfall profits. That's the only obvious way for the oil companies to invest in new refineries, exploration, production, etc.
The real answer is for more competition and alternative energy sources but I fear the oil companies have so much money invested in them (they gotta put those profits somewhere) they're controlling them too.

[rrrr]

Looks like around 10% profit to me. Record profits because of record income. Sales at Exxon were up from $76B to $100B. The demand is huge. If you sold 32% more widgets this week then you did last week, you'd make more profit, huh? And if no one could else build widgits but everyone wanted to buy at least three, the cost of your parts would increase and you would have to charge more for 'em. But the markup on the widgets wouldn't change.
You think the government should step in when a company is making 10% profit? Hardly a windfall if you ask me. If the treehuggers would shut up, we could drill off California and Florida coasts and the ANWR.
Plus, some refineries could get built. Just last month the libs had a sh*tfit because a bill had provisions for tax incentives for refinery construction. Then they claim the oil companies are ripping off the public. Can't have it both ways. Unless refineries are built, the problem ain't going away.
It takes 4-5 years to build a refinery. Just bend over, baby. $3 gas is here to stay.

[boxscore]

Looks like around 10% profit to me. Record profits because of record income. Sales at Exxon were up from $76B to $100B. The demand is huge. If you sold 32% more widgets this week then you did last week, you'd make more profit, huh? And if no one could else build widgits but everyone wanted to buy at least three, the cost of your parts would increase and you would have to charge more for 'em. But the markup on the widgets wouldn't change.
You think the government should step in when a company is making 10% profit? Hardly a windfall if you ask me. If the treehuggers would shut up, we could drill off California and Florida coasts and the ANWR.
Plus, some refineries could get built. Just last month the libs had a sh*tfit because a bill had provisions for tax incentives for refinery construction. Then they claim the oil companies are ripping off the public. Can't have it both ways. Unless refineries are built, the problem ain't going away.
It takes 4-5 years to build a refinery. Just bend over, baby. $3 gas is here to stay.
Damn accurate summary.

[rrrr]

That's the only obvious way for the oil companies to invest in new refineries, exploration, production, etc.
The real answer is for more competition......
There can't be more competition because no one is willing to build a refinery. As for production, the State governments of Florida and California have the rest of us by the balls because they ban offshore drilling.
The only thing the government should do is rescind the ban because of the Commerce clause, and give incentives and regulatory freedom to refinery construction.
Crude exploration and production is a waste of time right now.....nowhere to refine it.
This is a national emergency and crucial to the security of our country. We should all scream like hell to get more production capacity. The government needs to get the hell out of the way and let market forces right this imbalance.

[dirty old man]

rrrr, what you missed was: THAT WAS FOR A QUARTER

[MagicMtnDan]

It's NET income for a quarter. NET INCOME!
"Exxon's net income ballooned 75 percent to $9.92 billion, compared with $5.68 billion a year ago."
At what point do you think their NET profits become extreme and obscene?

[dirty old man]

I know who Extreme is, but who manufacturers Obscene?

[Schiada76]

F PROFIT!
They should work for free!
Right comrade? :idea: :supp:

[rivercrazy]

Demand for oil has remained somewhat consistent with modest rise in overall output.
Revenues are up because prices are up. That accounts for most of the revenue increase.
The oil companies have no incentive to reinvest profits back into new refineries. They would rather produce incredible cash flows and make their exec's rich.
Remember the movie "Wallstreet". Greed is good. :hammerhea