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Exxon Mobil Profits, Consumer Gas Prices Near Record Highs

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 27, 2006
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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