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Exxon Mobil Profits, Consumer Gas Prices Near Record Highs

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 27, 2006

• Latest Gas Price Round-Up • 'Hypermiling' Is Dangerous, Says AAA • Struggling Drivers Blame Washington for High Gas Prices • What’s Really Fueling Those Sky-High Oil Prices • Credit Card Fees at the Pump are a 'Hidden Tax' on Consumers • Survey: 3 Out of 4 Angry About High Gas Prices • $2 A Gallon Gas Possible, Analysts Tell Congress • Speculators Buy More Oil Contracts Than Oil Companies • Saudis to Pump More Oil • Limiting Oil Speculators Gains Ground • Congress To Probe Oil Price Spike • Oil Market 'Saturated,' Iran Claims • Feds See No Relief from High Gas Prices • High Gas Prices Could Mean Lower Insurance Rates • High Gas Prices Good For Kia, Honda • Gas Prices Rip Past $4 and Keep Climbing • Administration, OPEC See Different Causes Of Oil Surge • Feds Probing Possible Oil Market Manipulation • Beware of Fuel Sippers Sipping High-Test • Retailers Respond to High Gas Prices with Discounts, Promotions • Rushing Into a Smaller Car Too Soon May Not Save Money • Hybrid Sales and Prices Climb in Lockstep with Gas Prices • Truckers Bemoan Burden of High Diesel Costs • Gas Prices Biting into Worker Productivity • Consumers Warned About Gas-Saving Schemes • Is Tony Soprano Controlling Gas Prices? • Oil & Gas: The New Bubble • Critics: New Federal Gas Mileage Standard Falls Short • Consumers Feeling Pain of Skyrocketing Gas Prices • New Gas Price Record Forecasts Expensive Summer Driving Season --- • More ...

Exxon Mobil has made more than $20 billion in profits in just six months. The world's largest publicly traded company reported a near-record quarterly profit of $10.36 billion on top of the record $10.7 billion quarterly profit the oil company reported three months ago.

The enormous profit surprised even Wall Street as analysts there were expecting $9.9 billion from Exxon Mobil.

The oil company's earnings reports come as the AAA Fuel Gauge tracking the national gasoline price average has settled in at a mid-summer price just above $3 a gallon.

AAA reports the national average price for regular self serve gasoline is now $3.006. The record price, according to AAA was set September 5, 2005 at $3.057 a gallon.

The corporate earnings report follows Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's second-largest oil company, which reported that its second-quarter earnings jumped 40 percent to $7.32 billion from $5.24 billion a year earlier.

ConocoPhillips quarterly profits are up 65 percent as that oil giant pumped more oil and gas and commanded sharply higher prices for its energy in the second quarter, raking in more than $5 billion in profits.

Exxon Mobil was widely criticized for the record fourth quarter profits in 2005. At the time, the company gave outgoing CEO Lee Raymond a retirement package worth about $350.

This new Exxon Mobil report shows the oil company earning more than $1,300 a second by some estimates.

The price of crude oil increased 31 percent while Exxon Mobil produced the second largest profits in corporate history. The oil company reported that during the same period its expenditures for energy exploration and production rose by eight percent.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry lobbying organization in Washington prepared for the earnings reports with a new round of newspaper and television advertisements to downplay industry profits and emphasize industry investment in future energy sources.

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