Question regarding oil giants' obscene profits

[theHandpuppet]

Do the petroleum giants disclose the specific reasons for their windfall profits? How much of those profits come from war-related business, anyway? I want to know the price of of a gallon of blood these days.

[magellan]

1. I don't mind them making a profit

But I'd really like to see a break-down of their costs to determine how much of the price of a gallon is going into their pockets in relative terms now as opposed to a few years ago. I strongly suspect they're taking more off the top because they can hide these figures, and we're being forced to eat it.

[ixion]

4. Cheney's Energy Task Force notes detail how they're gaming the system

If pressed, they would come up with the same type of excuses Enron did, and when investigated, it would turn out that their reasoning was fabricated or staged, just like the rolling black outs in California.

I maintain: the California and Enron fiasco was a 'proof of concept' which is now being deployed on a broad scale.

This is the reason Cheney has fought so ardently to keep those notes secret, IMO.

[johnaries]

2. I heard on NPR they have a sliding profit margin.

The higher the cost of oil, the more they raise the percentage of profit. Supposedly, this is to cover additional "research" to find more oil sources.

Yeah, right.

[johnaries]

3. I heard on NPR they have a sliding profit margin.

The higher the cost of oil, the more they raise the percentage of profit. Supposedly, this is to cover additional "research" to find more oil sources.

Yeah, right.

[POAS]

5. My local fish wrap broke it down this way..

Exxon made $1660 per second. In other words they make it faster than you can say it.

The "need the profits to pay for R&D" type excuses hold little water with me. We aren't talking Gross receipts here, these are net profits after operational costs are paid from gross receipts and that includes R&D.

[phylny]

6. And as Americans, our demand for gasoline has risen since last

year.

RISEN.

So, while the oil companies are probably gouging us, we (as a society, not individuals) are doing nothing as consumers to change our consumption pattern.

[ikri]

7. One of the reasons

Is due to the way that oil & natural gas prices are set.

Obtaining oil from, for example, Venezuela right now is easier than getting oil from Iraq due to the violence there. Yet Venezuelan oil is priced exactly the same on the world market as oil from Iraq. In one area it might cost $70 per barrel to pull it out of the ground thus there's a small markup on the world price, but in another area, with fewer problems associated with obtaining the oil, the price to pull a barrel of oil from the ground might only be $5. The $5 barrel and the $70 barrel are both sold on the world market at the exact same price ($73ish today apparently).

Oil companies drilling for oil in areas where there are reasonable reserves and it's easy to the oil get out of the ground are making massive profits based on this disparity.

[DocSavage]

8. I heard

that the margin is about 10.3 cents per gallon. But they could be making a big profit because they are selling a whole lot of product.

[unblock]

9. they were making a profit when oil was $25/bbl.

now there's an EXTRA $50/bbl, and the cost of getting that oil to the market has barely changed.

really, the only reasons it HAS changed is because
(a) higher prices make it profitable to drill the more challenging locations and
(b) delivery costs are higher -- BECAUSE GAS PRICES ARE HIGHER!

both of which as "quality problems" for the oil business.

the r&d thing is just a way to avoid showing some of the money as "profit". but r&d, of course, only helps the company make EVEN MORE money in the long run!

[On the Road]

10. They're Not Making Money on the Retail Side

I don't think profits from independent gas stations have gone up very much.

The problem is that oil prices were so low for so many years that exploration and investment in drilling and refining almost dried up because it wasn't profitable. It was widely recognized that this would lead to a shortage down the road.

And when that happens, commodity prices can spike. It may take several years for supply to catch up with demand.

In general, no one has direct control over commodity prices. It's not a simple matter for oil companies to raise prices in normal times -- witness the huge drop in the 80s and 90s when the oil industry seemed powerless to do anything.

The way to bring oil prices down is to reduce demand and increase supply of both oil and all available alternatives.