Price of Oil

polaris

Stone Is God wrote:

I guess it's just time to take a big bite of the old shit burger. LOL

I've basically cut out any driving I don't have to do. I sit in my apartment and play my guitars and my X Box 360.

But then again, isn't life full of crappy choices.

i like my 360 ...

Stone Is God

polaris wrote:

i like my 360 ...

Waiting for GTA IV and the Deadliest Catch games. Those should basically keep my from paying for gas because I won't be driving places.

stuckinline

and exxon has records profits, earning $1300 a second!!!!!! :

n shatters profit records
Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
February 1 2008: 2:26 PM EST


Exxon Mobil booked the biggest quarterly and annual profits in U.S. corporate history Friday, helped by higher oil prices.
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices.

Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. The company earned $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.

The profit topped Exxon's previous quarterly record of $10.7 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2005, which also was an all-time high for a U.S. corporation.

"Exxon can put out some amazing numbers and this is one of those cases," said Jason Gammel, senior analyst at Macquarie Securities in New York.

Exxon also set an annual profit record by earning $40.61 billion last year - or nearly $1,300 per second in 2007. That exceeded its previous record of $39.5 billion in 2006.

In the fourth quarter, the company said revenue rose 29.5% from a year ago to $116.64 billion.

Analysts were looking for the company to report quarterly profit of $10.36 billion on revenue of $114.9 billion, according to earnings tracker Thomson Financial.

Despite topping Wall Street's estimates, Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) shares slipped in afternoon trading.

The company reported strong results in its worldwide exploration and production, or "upstream," business. Profit rose 32% to $8.2 billion during the quarter, offsetting some weakness earlier in the year.

Income in Exxon's refining, or "downstream," business rose 15.7% during the quarter to $2.27 billion.

Exxon attributed its impressive results to strong performance across its divisions, but a large part of the profit surge was underpinned by climbing oil prices.

Crude prices skyrocketed nearly 60% last year. The surge helped prices break through the $100 a barrel mark for the first time ever early last month. Since crossing that milestone, prices have eased to around $90 a barrel.

Natural gas prices also jumped last year, albeit marginally. But costs have also increased for the oil companies, which is why profits haven't risen as rapidly as crude prices.

Big oil companies that both pump oil and refine crude into gasoline have to spend more for crude but are unable to pass on all the extra cost to consumers, which eats in to gasoline profit margins.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit an all-time high of $3.23 in May, according to the motorist organization AAA. The high prices were blamed on strong demand and a series of accidents that shut down refineries in the U.S. But slack demand for gasoline in the latter half of last year kept gas prices from rising as dramatically as crude prices.

Exxon's record results, which coincide with smaller rival Chevron's (CVX, Fortune 500) profit jump, drew some fire from both government officials and consumer rights groups, who have argued previously that the the oil industry is deliberately restricting supply and profiting on the back of U.S. motorists.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. took a swipe at the two firms, calling on fellow lawmakers to break the country's dependence on foreign oil and rollback unnecessary tax incentives for oil companies.

Judy Dugan, research director of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, urged Congress to initiate some oversight into unregulated energy trading markets, which have been accused of helping to drive up the price of oil.

"Exxon is happy to take advantage of these prices," said Dugan.

But finding oil has also become more costly. The oil boom has led to a surge in exploration and drilling activity, which has pushed up the price for skilled workers and equipment.

Furthermore, new supplies of oil are increasingly difficult to find and generally tend to be located in harder to reach - and hence more expensive - places. The new natural gas field discovered this week by Brazil's Petrobras lies three miles under the ocean.

ExxonMobil representatives also stressed the cyclical nature of the business and noted that growing global demand for energy will require companies to heavily invest in future growth. The company said it estimates that global demand will grow by 30 percent by 2030.

"The challenge for all of us in the industry is how to we meet that increased demand," said Henry Hubble, vice president of investor relations.

Exxon and Chevron aren't the only two oil giants to report impressive earnings recently. Conoco (COP, Fortune 500), the nation's third-largest oil company, trounced profit estimates by nearly 25% when it reported last week. And Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, reported a 60% increase in profits Thursday.

-CNNMoney.com staff writer Steve Hargreaves contributed to this report


http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/exxon_earnings/

polaris

Stone Is God wrote:

Waiting for GTA IV and the Deadliest Catch games. Those should basically keep my from paying for gas because I won't be driving places.

i like getting my ass owned by 10 year olds on H3 ... then hear them talk smack with their pre-pubescent voices ... it really makes my day ...

lazymoon13

stuckinline wrote:

and exxon has records profits, earning $1300 a second!!!!!! :

n shatters profit records
Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
February 1 2008: 2:26 PM EST

[/url]

so what? the oil companies do not set the price of oil.

Kel Varnsen

stuckinline wrote:

Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share.

In the fourth quarter, the company said revenue rose 29.5% from a year ago to $116.64 billion.

Sure those numbers look huge but it is also based on a huge investment. I mean in reality it is only a 10% profit. The overall dollar number is only based on how huge their operations are. I mean to make that 11 billion they have to spend 100 billion. I think on a return on investment basis banks and real estate companies typically have better performance as far as profits go than oil companies.

lazymoon13

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Sure those numbers look huge but it is also based on a huge investment. I mean in reality it is only a 10% profit. The overall dollar number is only based on how huge their operations are. I mean to make that 11 billion they have to spend 100 billion. I think on a return on investment basis banks and real estate companies typically have better performance as far as profits go than oil companies.

very true. their profits margins are less then many companies/industries.

polaris

lazymoon13 wrote:

so what? the oil companies do not set the price of oil.

profits due largely to the price of oil being up --> oil is up partly because of on-going instability in middle east --> instability in middle east due to continued occupation of iraq and war rhetoric with iran --> war due to current administrations foreign policy --> admistration is headed by former oil executive and others tied to industry

chromiam

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

I am certainly no bush supporter but 1) gas prices are not solely determined by him and 2) high gas prices are good. bottom line. gets people to drive less, helps the environment, helps public health, helps community development.

Please show me where it proven that higher gas prices leads to people driving less??? People bite the bullet and drive just about as much as they normally due, they may make slight adjustments but for the most part driving habits and gas consumption stay the same, hence the continued high demand for oil and gas.

lazymoon13

polaris wrote:

profits due largely to the price of oil being up --> oil is up partly because of on-going instability in middle east --> instability in middle east due to continued occupation of iraq and war rhetoric with iran --> war due to current administrations foreign policy --> admistration is headed by former oil executive and others tied to industry

whats your point?

brandon10

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Sure those numbers look huge but it is also based on a huge investment. I mean in reality it is only a 10% profit. The overall dollar number is only based on how huge their operations are. I mean to make that 11 billion they have to spend 100 billion. I think on a return on investment basis banks and real estate companies typically have better performance as far as profits go than oil companies.

A huge investment that involves murder and rape of the land.

Kel Varnsen

lazymoon13 wrote:

very true. their profits margins are less then many companies/industries.

Exactly I was able to find this link where JP Morgan made about a 15% profit on what they would call a bad quarter. That is a way better return on investment than what the oil companies are getting, I am sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that a bank branch is a lot cheaper to run than an oil platform. Yet how come no one ever complains as much about crappy bank service charges, and low interest rates on savings accounts, as they do about gas prices

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/jpmorgan-earns-24-billion-in-1st-quarter-profit-beating-expectations/

polaris

lazymoon13 wrote:

whats your point?

what? ... you don't get it? ...

this so called war on terror is about war profiteering ... companies like exxon profited from this war directly ... i don't really care how much money a company makes - but when it comes at the expense of innocent lives - it's problematic ... and i can even give some slack if a company indirectly profits - but when they hold influence over the gov't and said gov't enters into shady wars overseas - it's a crime ...

brandon10

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Yet how come no one ever complains as much about crappy bank service charges, and low interest rates on savings accounts, as they do about gas prices

Are you serious?

GreenTeaDisease

chromiam wrote:

Please show me where it proven that higher gas prices leads to people driving less??? People bite the bullet and drive just about as much as they normally due, they may make slight adjustments but for the most part driving habits and gas consumption stay the same, hence the continued high demand for oil and gas.

well this is very true. as I said earlier, gasoline demand is highly price inelastic. But it just seems like at a certain point, this could change. I think it's inelastic because people think it's just temporary, or they think they have to drive, or that they have some "right" to drive. I think as the price keeps climbing with little relief and people become better informed, this could change. People are more and more starting to demand alternatives, and I think that's where it starts. But no one will ever have incentive to change their ways if gasoline just remained at the ridiculously low price it has been historically.

Stone Is God

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Sure those numbers look huge but it is also based on a huge investment. I mean in reality it is only a 10% profit. The overall dollar number is only based on how huge their operations are. I mean to make that 11 billion they have to spend 100 billion. I think on a return on investment basis banks and real estate companies typically have better performance as far as profits go than oil companies.

True but they're still making 11 billion dollars. When you operate in that type of volume your GP doesn't need to be 20-25%. I'd be interested to see what the net profit is because I imagine that the cost of their operation hasn't dramatically increased which would make the overall pocket profit sky rocket.

That's what it boils down to and I think that's why people are pissed. You didn't hear the oil companies crying poverty before so I'm assuming they were still making decent money.

If it's supply and demand they're turning out basically the same supply so the cost of turning that out wouldn't dramatically increase.

chromiam

Problem is that these "alternatives" that are being pushed and people are calling for (biodiesel and ethanol) are causing more problems and creating global food shortages. And actually cause more harm to the environment then gasoline production.

polaris

chromiam wrote:

Problem is that these "alternatives" that are being pushed and people are calling for (biodiesel and ethanol) are causing more problems and creating global food shortages. And actually cause more harm to the environment then gasoline production.

??

http://straight.com/article-141020/monocrops-bring-food-crisis

no self-respecting environmentalist considers ethanol a good alternative to gas ...

macgyver06

if the pump says 3.30 you are actually paying well over 8 dollars a gallon for gas because of this war.

macgyver06

GreenTeaDisease wrote:

well this is very true. as I said earlier, gasoline demand is highly price inelastic. But it just seems like at a certain point, this could change. I think it's inelastic because people think it's just temporary, or they think they have to drive, or that they have some "right" to drive. I think as the price keeps climbing with little relief and people become better informed, this could change. People are more and more starting to demand alternatives, and I think that's where it starts. But no one will ever have incentive to change their ways if gasoline just remained at the ridiculously low price it has been historically.

well said.