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Feb. 5, 2008

Big Oil bemoans tough times

Commentary: Record profits dull the pain

By MarketWatch


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) --

The last three months of 2007 are being touted by the oil industry as
tough times.

They struggled to maintain production levels, fought rising costs and
were beset by a weak market for their refining and marketing
businesses.

Here are the results:

The top five oil companies operating in the United States racked up a
combined fourth-quarter profit of $33.8 billion from their global
operations -- an embarrassment of riches.

Leading the pack was Exxon Mobil Corp.

The world's biggest oil company posted the world's biggest-ever
profit, $11.66 billion, in the fourth quarter, up 14% from a year ago.
Its net income for the full year totaled an astounding $40.61 billion.
That works out to a surplus of $111 million a day after paying all the
bills.

Rounding out the top five, Shell's fourth-quarter net income shot up
60% to $8.47 billion, ConocoPhillips' profit surged 37% to $4.37
billion, Chevron's net jumped 29% to $4.9 billion and -- last to
report but by no means least -- BP's profit soared 53% to $4.4 billion
from a year ago.

While the rest of the nation braces for a recession, the oil companies
and their lobbyists continue to beseech the government for tax breaks
to stimulate their search for oil, for greater access to federal lands
and for a go-slow approach to prickly environmental issues that
threaten to raise costs or encroach on their markets.

Last year, the companies lined up enough support in Washington to
successfully fend off efforts to repeal tax breaks handed to them in
2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.

They've applied the same tactics around the world, threatening to
leave town if they think the production royalties demanded by host
nations are too high.

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At this rate, where gonna hafta set up soup kitchens for Big Oil, eh?
They really are suffering, aren't they

Harry