"Calif Bill" wrote in message
k.net...

"DSK" wrote in message
...
Chuck Gould wrote:

Driving back to the office, I could swear I just heard the radio
newsdude say that Exxon made about $10 billion in net profits during
the last 90 days.

If that's the case, then I have to agree with the apologists that the
outrageous cost to fuel my boat is all based upon "supply and
demand"......

as in "We monopolize the supply, and we hereby demand....." :-)


It *is* all about supply & demand. If the prices were high enough that
people would buy less of it, then they wouldn't be making record profits,
would they?

Right now the oil companies are experimenting to see just how high they
can push the prices before sales go down. After all, they know they won't
be in this business forever even if some right-wingnuts think so.

Shucks, prices aren't even high enough that people drive a little slower.
Just a short while ago I was doing 75 in a 55 zone and getting run down
by a steady stream of SUVs with one person in them. Every single one of
those drivers, if asked, would probably complain heartily about the price
of gas... but they're not *doing* anything about it.

DSK


So, was not just SUV's speeding. How many in your speeding vehicle? Oil
makes about 16% profit. Citigroup about 34%. You want to make money,
build a refinery and acquire crude and sell it for less money than the
competitors. You will be rolling in the moola, as you will have most of
the energy business. But to get the crude, you have to rent a deep water
drilling rig for $400k a day. Big bets, should get a good profit on
wins.

Per the latest quarter for Exxon their profit percentage as measured by
dividing Profit by Income was 10.8% not 16%.

The oil industry profit "percentages" are lower than other industries like
banks, pharma/biotech, household/personal products, real estate. (2005
data).

$10B in quarterly profits is a whole bunch of money but percent wise, as I
believe it should be viewed, it's not out of line.

ACP wrote:


$10B in quarterly profits is a whole bunch of money but percent wise, as I
believe it should be viewed, it's not out of line.

Let's say I own the rights to all the water in the US. Every drop of
it.
I then price it out at a rate where I'll only net a nickel a gallon.
It would be easy to say, "look, I'm only making a nickel a gallon"- but
if everybody had to pay that much for water there might not be enough
money in the entire economy to pay the bill.

Until the other components of free enterprise, open market economics
(like competition, for a start) begin to apply to the oil company
cartels the isolated argument from that universe of vairables: "We
deserve to make as much money as we possibly can as fast as we can make
it" will cause a lot of resentment at the fuel dock.

$10B in quarterly profits puts the lie to all the excuses offered
weekly (weakly?) about fuel prices. It's not "uncertainty in the middle
East", or "fear of future hurricanes", or "the cost of switching from
winter blend to summer blend fuels". Rather obviously the vast majority
of the price increases is being retained as corporate profits, and any
increased cost of oil company operations is *not* driving the price of
gas or diesel anywhere nearly as much as corporate greed.

On 27 Jul 2006 14:29:40 -0700, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

Let's say I own the rights to all the water in the US. Every drop of
it.

Exxon does not even come close to owning all of the oil, it's actually
a very competetive business played for high stakes.

You should be glad that oil prices are high because it will ensure
that lots of drilling and exploration is in the budget. When oil
companies fail to make a profit, drilling and exploration goes on the
chopping block.

My advice is to buy some stock. Exxon is a very well managed company.

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:07:20 -0400, Wayne.B wrote:


Exxon does not even come close to owning all of the oil, it's actually a
very competetive business played for high stakes.

You should be glad that oil prices are high because it will ensure that
lots of drilling and exploration is in the budget. When oil companies
fail to make a profit, drilling and exploration goes on the chopping
block.

It seems of late, that exploration has taken a backseat to consolidation.
This isn't a bad thing, but it shows the maturity of the sector. Most new
oil is deep and expensive. It is cheaper to buy, or merge to acquire,
more reserves.



My advice is to buy some stock. Exxon is a very well managed company.