Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Total crap!!!

Sorry...slow day at work so far...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM - news), the world's largest publicly traded oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly profit rose 7 percent to $8.4 billion , pushed higher by the surge in crude oil prices.

It was the biggest profit ever posted by the Texas-based oil behemoth in the first quarter, but it still fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Hurray Texas!!!

And now, we quit the USA to make MORE profit!

...and you're surprised


I think the nut-kicking at the pumps woulda' told you that.

all the blame doesn't fall onto the oil companies, there is the state and federal government and how they tax the ish out of gas...

yeah well don't expect uncle same to get his hands out of our pockets anytime soon. After all, he is the worlds oldest and greatest pimp.

Funny how our own companies are robbing us though, aside from the government. What ever happened to all that "made in the usa - with pride" crap??

Here we go again...

1) Refining capacity has been a PROVEN bottleneck; we have more oil in the chain than we have GAS being produced. Basic supply/demand here.

2) Gas formulation laws have also taken their toll on prices; we've just gone through a recent switchover that has been a more costly one for refiners. Costs like this have to be passed on to the consumer, unless you can get Congress to open their purses and pay for the changeover...

3) Iran is the 4th largest oil-producing country in the world and like Venezuela (another oil behemoth), their ties to the West have "soured" as of late. There is a risk component to the price of crude oil and political instability with one of the world's largest consumers of oil and a couple of the world's largest producers of it tends to SPIKE this component.

4) Speculation is what the price of oil is pretty much hinged upon. Speculators adjust the price that they are willing to pay for oil due to current factors vs. what they feel future factors will be like. Given all of today's factors (summer demand, forumlation changes, political instability, oil supply concerns, etc., etc., etc.), the price has gone UP.

5) The price of oil and gas per gallon is less than many other liquids that you purchase on a daily basis. If we priced Budwiser out per gallon, you'd be paying around $8/gallon for it. Where is the outrage there?

6) Microsoft makes over 60-70% margin on the software products that consumers typically buy. Exxon and other oil companies on a GOOD day with a commodity such as oil or gas usually make single-digit margins (8% at last look). I don't see people in the streets protesting the margins that biotech firms make or the margins that many SW companies make...

7) The US has consistently paid some of the cheapest overall prices for gasoline since automobiles came into existance. There is a tax component that is associated with gas that many other countries inflate beyond belief, but that does NOT change the fact that gas has been a VERY cheap commodity for the US over the years.

There is a reason Bill Gates is the richest guy on the planet and a reason that you be hard-pressed to find any "Big Oil" executive on the "most wealthy" list; there's also a reason you will find MANY oil sheiks from the Middle-East on that list, too.

In short, quit swallowing the fetid BS that the media tosses out to further sensationalize a hot-button issue. There's reason for concern about the price of oil and gas, but I'm tired of this lemming-mentality that states oil companies are "fixing" prices and "screwing" the consumer here.

THINK, PEOPLE!!!

You would think with 8.4 Billion in profits in the 1st quarter they could afford to upgrade their refineries on their own! That's 8.4 billion above and beyond all operating costs.

Im an idiot. Ill come back to this later.