Buoyed by soaring crude oil prices, Exxon Mobil announced yesterday that it set new records for U.S. quarterly and annual corporate profits in 2007, and Chevron, the nation’s second-largest oil company, also reported big gains in earnings.
Exxon broke the record it previously had set for profits by a U.S. corporation, earning $40.6 billion last year. It earned $11.7 billion in the fourth quarter, or $2.13 a share, up 14 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006. Revenue for the quarter rose 30 percent, to $116.64 billion. Exxon’s profit for the year came to $4.6 million an hour.
Chevron said its profit rose 29 percent, to $4.9 billion, or $2.32 a share. Chevron’s quarterly revenue grew 29 percent, to $61.41 billion. Profits of the five biggest international oil companies have tripled since 2002.
Kenneth P. Cohen, Exxon Mobil’s vice president for public affairs, said the earnings reflected the company’s “long-term, disciplined approach” and investments made a decade ago when oil prices were low.
Does that make you mad? You’re not alone.
looks like a hell of a return on investment of the taxpayers money…a catastrophically successful raid on the u.s treasury, abetted by record setting military spending.
it’s not just the oil companies, and the halliburtons of the world that are feeling the buzz; having a virtual feeding frenzy while the economy goes down the fucking toilet.
general dynamics, lockeed martin, dynacorp, etal, are reaping the benefits too, as evidenced by the latest request from the pentagon: a staggering $515b, not counting the $250b, off the books, cost of continuing the debacle in the deserts.
what a country, eh.
lTMF’sA
That’s self regulation for you.
“Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, described the performance as “satisfactory” and admitted that overall production for the year had actually dropped 2%.”
They don’t even bother spinning any more.
.
Take it easy on Shell, their Dutch HQ just a stone throw away from my place. Van der Veer is doing an excellent job for his employees and he does have environmental worries.
Even Qatar got hit by the dropping value of the dollar and are contemplating a currency basket for their sole source of income: OIL. Now their stash of cash raises worries in the Western capitalist world due to their Sovereign Wealth Funds. I doubt that will happen due to unrelentless US political pressure from Bush’s Front Office.
Think of BP, the British owned company can barely afford upkeep of pipelines in Alaska and their Texas refineries.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
I’m not all that upset with Shell. We set it up so that corporations have to look out for profits as their number one priority (by law).
It’s more like I’m mad at the collective us (we the people) that wont even bother regulating what needs to be regulated.
Again, what other industry is making record profits at a time where production is decreasing and that lowering production is in fact the acceptable moral and legal game plan.
Just another trillion-dollar collusion.
that’s some crying all the way to the bank..
“well, peak oil is here and we have to rake it in before it all dries up”
There’s the debate over the theory for the origin of oil – fossil fuel derived from decaying ancient forests and dead dinosaurs or abiotic synthesis – that is living organisms as small as plankton may be the origin.
Whatever, just maybe the oils, at this rate of profits can sfford to bailout the banksters,(Citigroup, Wamu et al) monoliners,(MBIA, Ambac et al) and non-bank financial entities.
not much, only $516 trillion.
In this election, who’ll be blamed for the great credit bubble? Bill, Bob and Al.
BTW, Mr. Whitney is not alone in holding that the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act has propelled the banks to their demise.
It just reminds us that government by the corporations, of the corporations, and for the corporations is alive and well in America.
Only Hillary is unwilling to take up the theme of special interests in her campaign, for obvious reasons.
It’s okay, I’m sure that Hillary will fix everything once she takes office. < coughing furiously >
I am powerless over my use of fossil fuel and my life has definitely become unmanageable.
I am steaming mad at the Idiot Americans that continue to fill up their gas guzzling SUVs to the tune of $80 a tank every other day and say oh well.
I say cut the MFers off at the pump. Stop buying so much gas. Get a smaller more gas efficeint car/hybrid, walk, ride a bkie, turn down the thermostat and so on and so on. Our country doesn’t know how to sacrifice anymore.