Exxon profit up 75%
 

Exxon's $10B net a U.S. corporate record

The oil company gains from soaring oil and gas prices, but falls short of estimates.

October 27, 2005: 1:25 PM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. posted a quarterly profit of $9.9 billion Thursday, the largest in U.S. corporate history, as it raked in a bonanza from soaring oil and gas prices.

Record profits for Big Oil at a time when consumers are paying sky-high prices for gasoline have brought calls for a windfall profits tax or other penalties on oil companies.

The companies have been enjoying an unusually rosy environment for months. In the third quarter, oil prices and refining margins rose sharply after hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting energy operations in the region.

While Exxon's quarterly profit was up 75 percent from a year earlier, and revenue rose 32 percent to more than $100 billion, the results fell short of Wall Street forecasts due to production outages caused by the hurricanes and sharply lower profit at the company's chemicals division.

"They were a bit disappointing, but this a temporary phenomenon," said Paul Kuklinski, an analyst with Boston Energy Research/Soleil Securities. "This is largely attributable to hurricane effects."

Exxon (up $0.15 to $56.35, Research) shares fell slightly in midday trade.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income jumped to $9.92 billion, or $1.58 a share, from $5.68 billion, or 88 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a gain of $1.62 billion from restructuring its stake in a Dutch gas transportation business, earnings were $1.32 per share, six cents below the average forecast among analysts polled by First Call.

The record earnings topped the $9 billion net profit reported Thursday by Royal Dutch Shell PLC and were well above the best quarterly performances by Citigroup Inc. (Research), the world's largest bank -- $7.2 billion -- and conglomerate General Electric Co. (Research) -- $5.6 billion -- according to Reuters Fundamentals.

Expansion of capacity

In addition to calls for a windfall profits tax or other penalties, lawmakers and consumer advocates have been urging oil companies to expand refining capacity and take other steps to help bring down gasoline prices.

Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said Thursday that oil firms have a responsibility to boost refining capacity in times of record profits. Marathon Oil said it would do just that, announcing a $2.2 billion expansion of its Garyville, La., refinery.

"We're already seeing some companies yielding to pressure," said Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit. "But everybody is waiting for the big lady to sing, which is Exxon."

Exxon said it did not see the point of a windfall profits tax.

"Frankly, if you're trying to encourage supply growth, it seems odd to put in place disincentives," Henry Hubble, vice president of investor relations for Exxon, said on a conference call with analysts.

Production falls

Exxon's oil and gas production fell 4.7 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier as outages caused by Katrina and Rita, maintenance activities, and maturing fields more than offset higher production from new fields in West Africa.

Excluding the impact of the hurricanes, divestments and entitlement effects, output fell 1 percent.

Still, record crude oil prices -- which touched $70 a barrel in the quarter -- pushed earnings at its exploration and production unit to $5.73 billion, up $1.8 billion from a year earlier.

At its refining and marketing operations, profit rose to $2.13 billion, up $727 million from a year earlier. Stronger refining margins outweighed weak marketing margins and lower petroleum product sales.

Earnings at its chemicals division tumbled to $472 million, down $537 million from a year earlier, due to higher feedstock costs and lower margins.

Exxon's capital expenditures jumped to $4.41 billion from $3.63 billion a year earlier.

Shares of Exxon, the largest of the so-called "super-major" oil companies, were little changed at midday on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares rose more than 10 percent in the third quarter but underperformed the broader Standard & Poor's integrated oil and gas index, which climbed more than 13 percent.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/27/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

we represent one of the biggest oil companies and since I'm privvy to some of the financial records, it is astounding the amount of money they make

What do you do for a living?

defend companies that have/had asbestos-containing products

you'd be surprised how many companies had/have their hands in this pot

I can only image.

Are you an attorney, paralegal...?

paralegal: the real power of attorney

that's what I say.

I'm going to school to be a paralegal (almost complete). And I agree with you on that!

are you really? welcome to my world (as Stevie says)

It is a really great career if you get with a good firm. I've been in the legal field since I was 16. My grandad was on the DEA, dad is chief of police, my uncle is in the FBI and my brother is thinking of joining FBI as well. Law seems to be in the blood.

I was 2 months from starting law school and suddenly realized I didn't really want to be a lawyer, so I'm glad I didn't make that mistake. The only thing I say about being a paralegal, and you may already know this, is that it is really exhausting and demanding. I can't see myself doing this when I'm like 40. Having to bill and and the other crap wears me out...hopefully, I'll move up to be national counsel for a single company or some managerial position. Right now I supervise our team of about 5 attys and 6 paralegals. I'm the senior paralegal you could say. I manage 650 cases and 30+ clients...

What are your plans as a paralegal?

Have you ever been involved w/ Owens-Corning Fiberglas? I used to work for them a while back...

Wow very good. Yes case management can be very frustrating.

My favorite area of law would be Corporate. I don't know why, I just really enjoy Corporate law.

But I plan on heading into Criminal law.

btw...My dad is a detective. :lol:

almost every day.

The KAYLO pipe thing really hurt them. They are half the company they used to be. In the good old days they were a great company to work for...

yep. Kaylo is a big problem for them even now.

Falls short of estimates? Where's my kleenex?:lol:

I agree with YOU except for the laughing smilie. I think it should be the :mad:
one

btw: I am also a member of the Paralegal contingent, but I dont actually work at it. it doesnt pay that well in MY neck of the woods, so I am a Public Servant instead. The pay is better and the benefits are better. My law school career was crashed by my errant daughter but in the end, now that I know the stress level and work load that attorneys do, maybe this is better. I have a young son that I'd rather be home with anyway :nod:

I don't know why, I just feel totally inadequate. I am not worthy of this board most of the time LOL.

Let me go and make some more pizzas...

Speaking of which, my free Dominoes Pizza last night (free because they screwed up the one I had last Sunday) was also incorrect :mad: It had green olives insted of peppers :mad: Not that I think you care or want to hear yet another complaint much less on a FM website and from another state :laugh: - I just wanted to vent.

AND - you are more than worthy darlin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exxon wont invest any profit in alternative energy
 

Alternate energy not in cards at ExxonMobil

By James R. Healey, USA TODAY Fri Oct 28, 7:14 AM ET

ExxonMobil, which stunned Americans on Thursday by reporting nearly $10 billion in profit for the third quarter, says it has no plans to invest any of those earnings in developing alternative or renewable energy - something other oil companies do.

"We're an oil and gas company. In times past, when we tried to get into other businesses, we didn't do it well. We'd rather re-invest in what we know," says Exxon spokesman Dave Gardner.

Neither will Exxon significantly step up how much money it puts into finding oil or refining it into gasoline, which could help ease tight supplies that have driven oil and gasoline prices to records this year.

Exxon's investment for those activities will total about $18 billion this year, roughly what was planned and similar to what Exxon has invested in exploration and refining in past years, Gardner says.

"We do that in good times and bad," he says. "The returns this year might look very large, but there were years when they weren't so large. In years when we had $10 (per barrel) oil, we were investing $15 billion in our business. This year, we'll invest $18 billion." Oil is about $61 a barrel.

Illustrating the feast-or-famine cycle in the oil industry, ExxonMobil earned $7.9 billion for all of 1999.

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that the 20 big energy companies it tracks, together, earned $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2001, and together earned less than $10 billion in several other quarters in 2001 and 2002.

Exxon notes it boosted the energy efficiency of its own refineries and chemical plants more than 3% last year vs. 2003, and is investing $100 million over 10 years in a Stanford University project to find energy sources not yet being considered.

Nevertheless, Exxon's huge profits and its reluctance to use them for alternative energy development are unlikely to win much applause from motorists weary of $3 gas, suspicious that the current decline in prices will be short-lived, and hoping either for plenty of gas on the market or for a cheaper alternative.

The
Sierra Club, an environmental group often critical of the auto and energy industries, said Thursday: "Americans want clean sources of energy that protect public health, reduce pollution, curb global warming, and save consumers money. Instead, ExxonMobil has worked to make America more dependent on oil."

"We can debate what percentage of the profits should be plowed back into the company and what percentage belongs to the shareholders. Not being a shareholder, I'd prefer to see them err in the direction of spending a larger portion on refineries and new (oil and gas) fields and infrastructure," says Peter Beutel, author of Surviving Energy Prices and head of energy consultant Cameron Hanover.

Chevron, which is to report earnings today, plans to boost capital spending and exploration investment 20% this year, to $10 billion. Spokesman Donald Campbell says that amount has risen most years, but not by 20%.

He also notes that Chevron has spent $1 billion since 2000 developing alternative energy, renewable energy and methods of using energy more efficiently. Among those projects is a partnership with automaker Hyundai on a hydrogen-refueling station in Chino, Calif., for the handful of non-polluting fuel-cell vehicles being tested in the USA.

Investments by oil companies in alternative and renewable fuel development are common, which makes Exxon's stance stand out.

For instance Shell, which reported third-quarter earnings of $9.03 billion, up 68% from a year earlier, has a unit dedicated to solar and wind energy. It's called Shell Renewables, and the energy company considers it one of its five core business operations.

Shell also has a global hydrogen unit. Among other projects, it operates a hydrogen-refueling station for fuel-cell cars in suburban Washington, D.C.

Green olives...on pizza? I can feel the contents of my stomach rising just thinking about it.

I picked them off - I love pep. and green peppers :cool: