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View Full Version : Exxon Mobil posts $10.49B profit in 3Q


L.A. BRONCOS FAN
10-26-2006, 07:29 AM
Mission accomplished...

By STEVE QUINN, AP Business Writer 3 minutes ago

DALLAS - Oil industry behemoth Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings rose to $10.49 billion, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company. Its shares rose to a 52-week high.

The report comes as high crude prices this year have fueled record profits in the oil industry, triggering an outcry from consumers who were being asked to pay about $3 a gallon for gasoline in early August.

The largest quarterly profit ever was Exxon Mobil's $10.71 billion profit in the fourth quarter of 2005.

They may beat that next quarter, said Howard Silverblatt Standard & Poor's Senior Index Analyst. "Then in all likelihood they will be at that $40 billion mark for the year."

That would put the company on track for the highest annual profit ever by a U.S. company. Exxon Mobil holds that record with a 2005 profit of $36.1 billion.

Although crude oil prices began to decline toward the end of the third quarter, the average market price for crude held at around $70 a barrel in the period after peaking above $78 per barrel in July. Oil futures prices have recently traded near $61 a barrel, and gasoline prices have dropped to an average of about $2.43 a gallon.

Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest public oil company said its net income amounted to $1.77 per share for the July-September period, up from $9.92 billion, or $1.58 per share, a year ago.

The results surpassed the expectations of Wall Street analysts. On average, analysts expected the company to earn $1.59 per share in the quarter.

Exxon Mobil shares rose $1.32, or 1.8 percent, to a new 52-week high of $72.33 in morning trading on the
New York Stock Exchange.

Revenue fell to $99.59 billion from $100.72 billion from a year ago, which saw then-record oil prices because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Another major international oil company, Royal Dutch Shell PLC said its third-quarter profit fell 34 percent to $5.94 billion even as revenues rose 10 percent to $84.3 billion. But the Anglo-Dutch company's operating profit rose as higher oil prices outweighed worsening refining margins.

Earlier this week, ConocoPhillips reported its profit rose 2 percent to $3.88 billion in the third quarter while another major oil company, BP PLC, said its earnings fell 3.6 percent to $6.23 billion.

A fifth major oil company, Chevron Corp., is expected to report its results Friday.

High oil prices helped Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil realize earnings from its oil and gas drilling activities of $6.49 billion, up 13 percent from the prior year. The company also saw stronger earnings from its refining operations and gas stations, and profits at its chemicals segment more than doubled.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061026/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_exxon_mobil

L.A. BRONCOS FAN
10-26-2006, 07:55 PM
http://www.bartcop.com/oil-and-state.gif

alkemical
10-30-2006, 10:09 AM
http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2006_272/news/12302-1.html


California's Energy Alchemists
A proposal to use oil taxes for green energy is kicking up a costly debate. Will the payoff be worth it?
—By Suzanne Lindgren, Utne.com


October 26, 2006 Issue

In California a new breed of alchemist is trying to turn oil into clean, efficient energy by using a tax on oil production to fund green energy initiatives. The concoction, Proposition 87, will go before voters next month, and that has proponents and naysayers investing scads of money to convince the public to go their way.

As Shreema Mehta reports for The New Standard, Proposition 87 would levy a 1.5 percent to 6 percent tax on California oil drillers until $4 billion dollars were raised for investment in fuel alternatives, from helping Californians buy hybrid vehicles to research into energy-efficient technologies. The proposal also bars oil producers from passing the buck to consumers through raised prices, so voters don't have to worry about climbing costs at the pumps.

(cont'd on site)