Exxon profit jumps 69% as oil prices rise, makes 11 billion in 3 months

[no limit]

Source: CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Exxon Mobil said Thursday that first-quarter profits jumped 69%, helped by a spike in the price of crude oil.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company said it earned $10.7 billion, or $2.14 per share, in the first three months of 2011. That's up from $6.3 billion, or $1.33 per share, in the same period last year.

....

In 2008, Exxon reaped the largest annual profit of any company in U.S. history, reporting a whopping $45 billion on the back of high oil prices.

....

Shares of Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) were unchanged at $87.80 ahead of the opening bell. The stock is up 20% so far in 2011, making it one of the best performers in the Dow Jones industrial average.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/28/news/companies/exxon_earnings/

[ProSense]

1. You are cordially invited to the R-Oil Wedding

Roilwedding.com



Roilwedding.com

[Jefferson23]

6. LOL, well done! n/t

[SpiralHawk]

20. + 1,000

k and r

[marasinghe]

29. excellent, dude. \~/ (n/t)

[Bandit]

2. OVER a hundred million dollars a DAY

NET PROFIT after every single expense is paid...In the pocket money....Who says America is hurting?

[global1]

3. This Is What Pisses Me Off About The High Gas Prices......

When one complains here on DU about high gas prices one gets all the excuses about peak oil, war in the MidEast, OPEC, people not using fuel efficient cars, we should switch to alternate energies, etc - you know the excuses.

Then comes the end of the quarter and we hear of oil companies making record profits. Well they are doing it on our backs. Don't tell me something can't be done to keep gas prices in check. How about an excessive profit tax on oil companies?

It seems like when the complaining gets to levels that a commission is formed - we then get analysts saying things like - well the price of oil has peaked and we should be seeing some relief soon. Then the prices come down - and people are content with paying the new lower level. For example: the price of gas goes from $2.87 to $4.39 - then we hear of a commission being formed to investigate pricing and make sure that no shenanigans are going like manipulation of the market pricing. As the politicians start sniffing around - the price comes down to $3.50 and then everybody is content. The oil companies cause now they established the new level to $3.50 from $2.87. The politicians cause they can sit back and take credit for lowering the price from its highs. The people cause they don't have to pay $4.39 anymore (the peak) we can get away with paying $3.50 - and we're fat, dumb and happy.

What happened is that the price was effectively increased $0.63 cents a gallon - and the oil companies continue to roll in increased profits - until the next excuse comes along to do the same and take the price up to excessive levels and bring it down again somewhere in the middle - where we'll be content to pay $4.13 the next time it comes down.

This is a pattern that they've been using on us. I'm sure if somebody that has access to historical gas pricing can document this. Just look at the price of gas at the pump and correlate that with the price spiking and coming down to a new level.

The graph will should show a peak in high pump prices and then a leveling off at the new mid level from where the price was to the peak. Take this out over a decade or so and you will see the pattern I'm talking about.

[tclambert]

25. People don't want to pay taxes to the government, but If Exxon taxes them, it's OK.

[unkachuck]

31. right on!

....we need a strong Progressive to challenge Obama in the Dem primaries who promises to break up the oil monopoly/cartel and to send ALL corporate criminals to prison for life....

[KeepItReal]

4. Here's a pic and a link that explains the first time we has an oil price run up

Back in June, I wrote a piece for The American in which I argued that oil prices were being driven higher by the immutable law of supply and demand. Today, with prices plunging to near $40 instead of the $145 level seen in mid-July, it’s abundantly obvious that speculators were a key driver, probably the main driver, of the surge in oil prices that occurred between late 2007 and July.

So, to be clear, I was wrong. The leaders of OPEC were right. So, too, was my pal, Ed Wallace. In May, Wallace, a savvy journalist from Fort Worth who writes for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Business Week, published several articles which he showed how the unregulated futures market was being used by speculators to push prices upward.

Of course, it’s not politically correct to give OPEC credit for anything. But last summer, the leaders of OPEC were united in their pronouncements that there was no reason for oil prices to be as high as they were. Their claims were met with widespread scoffing. The response from the International Energy Agency, as well as some of the biggest oil companies in the world…was that the high prices were being caused by supply and demand. On June 30, during the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid, BP chief Tony Hayward, when asked why oil prices were shooting upward, replied, “It’s about fundamentals. Demand is outstripping new supply.” …

In the present context, however, it is common for people to contrast “the fundamentals” from mere “speculative demand.” In the case of oil, if demand has increased because factories need to run their machines harder or because refiners expect motorists to buy more gasoline, then that is deemed a legitimate, fundamental driver of higher oil prices. On the other hand, if hedge fund managers invest in oil futures contracts not because they forecast higher fundamental demand, but rather because they are simply betting that the market value of the contracts will appreciate, allowing the hedge fund to unload the contract before physical delivery, then that is considered pure speculation.



http://www.masterresource.org/2009/01/robert-bryce-on-oil-speculation/



I think we are seeing a rehash of '08. Except this time what is going to bring the price of a barrel back under $100?

[florida08]

14. Well see what the new oil fraud commission finds

The number of speculative bets being placed on oil and gas now far exceeds that of the 2008 price swing, which many economists believe was driven by excess speculation. Moreover, on March 21, Goldman Sachs analyst David Greely advanced the argument that Wall Street speculation was helping drive up oil prices in a memo sent to the bank’s clients.

But, if speculative excess is contributing to current sky-high gas prices, such activity may not be illegal, in part because the Commodities Futures Trading Commission has not yet issued key regulations intended to rein in Wall Street gambling on food and energy prices. Congress ordered the agency to crack down on excessive speculation with last year's financial reform bill, but the CFTC has been slow to implement new rules in the face of intense lobbying from Wall Street bankers.

Financiers are quick to note that commodities markets need speculation -- a raw bet that the price of oil or food will move up or down -- in order to function. But economists say that too much speculation can distort the market, leading to wild price swings. Even if so-called "fundamental" factors are driving prices, heavy speculation can cause prices to swing further than normal supply and demand forces would dictate.

In January, the CFTC announced it would push back implementing ‘position limits’, a key regulatory tool that restricts the size of the bets investors can make on commodities, in order to collect more data. But many reform advocates and CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton say that there is plenty of data available to implement new rules now.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/22/obamas-oil-market-fraud-s_n_852747.html

[LiberalEsto]

5. Whenever the oil co. execs want big whopping bonuses,

and whenever there is the slightest pretext for them to do so (war in Libya, BP drill rig disaster), they will raise gas prices as high as they think they can get away with.

It's that simple.

[jmondine]

7. ...and how much did they pay in taxes?

[ck4829]

8. But remember that they need subsidies just to stay in business!

- What Rep Joe Barton would say

[No Elephants]

9. "Prices are strictly a result of supply and demand."

That's been their story for a hundred years, and they're stickin' to it.

And why wouldn't they? Look how well it's always served them.


Even though no one on earth believes it, no one ever calls them on it.

[Frisbee]

10. I keep hearing that gas prices are going to doom Obama...

He needs to go after these non-taxpaying profit machines and make everyone aware of the profits they are making virtually tax free. I have a hard time believing very many people would be sympathetic to these corporations if they really understood the situation. Oh sure, Faux will be screaming that Obama is an anti-capitalism socialist, but in the end, it usually comes down to peoples pocketbooks.

[ProSense]

11. Dems prioritize the end of oil industry subsidies

Dems prioritize the end of oil industry subsidies

[no limit]

12. Boner also said he'd be open to extending tax cuts only for those making 250K a year

The democrats didn't capitalize on that then. Hopefully in this case they will follow through, if they can't take away 4 billion in subsidies from these oil companies during a time when they make these kinds of profits I would think that would prove beyond reasonable doubt that the democrats are worthless.

[jtrockville]

13. Taxes on that profit ought to put the country's finances back on track.

Right?

/wishful thinking

[no limit]

15. Would be great. Maybe if the profit didn't instantly go to overseas tax shelters

Exxon is one of the worst companies when it comes to these tax shelters.

[Fearless]

16. So gas prices are going to go down right?

:rofl:

[Octafish]

17. Hey! EXXON would be a good company to NATIONALIZE.

Same goes for the rest of the oil companies.

[MasonJar]

18. Why do people buy gas at Exxon?. I'd pull my car to the side fo the road

first and walk with a can to the next nearest station. BP too. I haven't bought Exxon since the Exxon Valdez. Certainly the company does not miss my business. I need many more of you to join with me.

[onehandle]

19. Seize big oil. nt

[shanti]

21. sickening n/t

[Skink]

22. The dollar is actually pretty low.

So their profits wern't really that big.

[AlbertCat]

23. makes 11 billion in 3 months

Before or after taxes....









Oh, I'm sorry... I forgot! They'll pay no taxes and get a refund too.

[thelordofhell]

24. So if we took away the subsidies for Exxon Mobile

They would still have record profits

[Faygo Kid]

26. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. Round up the usual suspects.

[spinbaby]

27. To put that into perspective

That's equivalent to about $35 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.

[marasinghe]

28. in a just Universe, these assholes would go back to the times of "Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves" and -

be boiled in barrels of their own oil. or, at the very least, be in Turkmenistan under the presidency of America's friend, islam karimov.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x294162

[Canuckistanian]

30. And it's all because of Libya

Yeah, right. Pull the other one.