Oil Companies Book Record 3rd Quarter

[yltlatl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/business/27cnd-energy.html

Exxon Mobil and other energy companies reported strong gains in their third-quarter profits today on surging prices of oil and gasoline both before and after the hurricanes struck the Gulf Coast.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil said its earnings jumped 75 percent. Royal Dutch, meanwhile, said its earnings climbed 68 percent, and Marathon Oil said its earnings more than tripled.

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Today, Exxon Mobil reported net income of $9.92 billion, or $1.58 a share, in the third quarter, up from $5.68 billion, or 88 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 31.9 percent, to $100.7 billion, from $76.38 billion.

The company's profits included a special one-time gain of $1.6 billion from the restructuring of the company's stake in a Dutch gas business. Without that, profits for the third quarter were $8.3 billion.

This year, Exxon Mobil's nine-month profits - $25 billion - are so far equal to those of 2004, already a record year for the company. Its sales are on track to exceed those of Wal-Mart this year.

Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell, the world's third-largest oil company, reported third-quarter net income of $9.03 billion, $1.35 a share, up from $5.37 billion, or 80 cents a share, in the comparable quarter of 2004. Revenue rose 6 percent, to $94.7 billion, from $89 billion.

And Marathon Oil reported third quarter net income of $770 million, or $2.09 a share, up from $222 million, or 64 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 40 percent, to $17.2 billion, from $12.3 billion.

This year is shaping to be an exceptionally lucrative one for the entire oil industry. Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, is expected to post a quarterly profit of $4 billion on Friday.

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But Exxon bristled at suggestions that oil companies should be taxed more. For the full year, the company said it planned to invest about $18 billion in capital and exploration investments.

"If you're trying to encourage supply growth, it seems odd to put in disincentives," Henry Hubble, Exxon Mobil's vice president for investor relations, said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts and investors today. "You've got to let the market work."

In the third quarter, Exxon Mobil said it invested $4.4 billion on capital and exploration projects, up 22 percent from the comparable quarter last year. All told, the company said its capital investments totaled $12.4 billion for the first nine months of 2005.

I think that at the very least the oil industry should be forced to disclose the precise nature of its "capital and exploration investments". Given that there most likely are not any more major finds to be made--except possibly in the arctic--the public has a right to know whether or not they're just faking it. We should also enact legislation that would force them to put a percentage of their profits into alternative energy.

On edit: added link.