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  • From: Nicholas Roberts <nicholas@themediasociety.org>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Exxon makes record pfofits and loves "scarcity" i.e loves the Peak Oil mythology
  • Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 18:17:10 +1100

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting
the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in
large part by soaring crude prices.

see below
I am afraid the Peak Oil myth driving the Transition movement is really only
good for corporate profits..
I am assuming no-one has managed to dent Nathan Lewis work on world energy
futures and the fungible nature of fossil fuels. i.e you can make synthetic
fuel from coal, gas, etc

artifical scarcity is a beloved marketing strategy i.e. De Beers artifical
manufacture artificial scarcity in the diamon trade
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1205906,00.html



Exxon shatters profit recordsOil giant makes corporate history by booking
$11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.By David
Ellis<http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/mailto:david.ellis@turner.com>,
CNNMoney.com staff writer
February 1 2008: 2:26 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting
the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in
large part by soaring crude prices.

Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter
net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. The company
earned $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.

The profit topped Exxon's previous quarterly record of $10.7 billion, set in
the fourth quarter of 2005, which also was an all-time high for a U.S.
corporation.

"Exxon can put out some amazing numbers and this is one of those cases,"
said Jason Gammel, senior analyst at Macquarie Securities in New York.

Exxon also set an annual profit record by earning $40.61 billion last year -
or nearly $1,300 per second in 2007. That exceeded its previous record of
$39.5 billion in 2006.

In the fourth quarter, the company said revenue rose 29.5% from a year ago
to $116.64 billion.

Analysts were looking for the company to report quarterly profit of $10.36
billion on revenue of $114.9 billion, according to earnings tracker Thomson
Financial.

Despite topping Wall Street's estimates, Exxon
(XOM<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=XOM&source=story_quote_link>,
Fortune
500<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2007/snapshots/496.html?source=story_f500_link>)
shares slipped in afternoon trading.

The company reported strong results in its worldwide exploration and
production, or "upstream," business. Profit rose 32% to $8.2 billion during
the quarter, offsetting some weakness earlier in the year.

Income in Exxon's refining, or "downstream," business rose 15.7% during the
quarter to $2.27 billion.

Exxon attributed its impressive results to strong performance across its
divisions, but a large part of the profit surge was underpinned by climbing
oil prices.

Crude prices skyrocketed nearly 60% last year. The surge helped prices break
through the $100 a barrel mark for the first time ever early last month.
Since crossing that milestone, prices have eased to around $90 a barrel.

Natural gas prices also jumped last year, albeit marginally. But costs have
also increased for the oil companies, which is why profits haven't risen as
rapidly as crude prices.

Big oil companies that both pump oil and refine crude into gasoline have to
spend more for crude but are unable to pass on all the extra cost to
consumers, which eats in to gasoline profit margins.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit an all-time high of
$3.23 in May, according to the motorist organization AAA. The high prices
were blamed on strong demand and a series of accidents that shut down
refineries in the U.S. But slack demand for gasoline in the latter half of
last year kept gas prices from rising as dramatically as crude prices.

Exxon's record results, which coincide with smaller rival Chevron's
(CVX<http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=CVX&source=story_quote_link>,
Fortune
500<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2007/snapshots/290.html?source=story_f500_link>)
profit jump, drew some fire from both government officials and consumer
rights groups, who have argued previously that the the oil industry is
deliberately restricting supply and profiting on the back of U.S. motorists.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. took a swipe at the two firms, calling on
fellow lawmakers to break the country's dependence on foreign oil and
rollback unnecessary tax incentives for oil companies.

Judy Dugan, research director of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer
Rights, urged Congress to initiate some oversight into unregulated energy
trading markets, which have been accused of helping to drive up the price of
oil.

"Exxon is happy to take advantage of these prices," said Dugan.

But finding oil has also become more costly. The oil boom has led to a surge
in exploration and drilling activity, which has pushed up the price for
skilled workers and equipment.

Furthermore, new supplies of oil are increasingly difficult to find and
generally tend to be located in harder to reach - and hence more expensive -
places. The new natural gas field discovered this week by Brazil's Petrobras
lies three miles under the ocean.

ExxonMobil representatives also stressed the cyclical nature of the business
and noted that growing global demand for energy will require companies to
heavily invest in future growth. The company said it estimates that global
demand will grow by 30 percent by 2030.

"The challenge for all of us in the industry is how to we meet that
increased demand," said Henry Hubble, vice president of investor relations.

Exxon and Chevron aren't the only two oil giants to report impressive
earnings recently. Conoco (COP, Fortune
500<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2007/snapshots/1050.html?source=story_f500_link>),
the nation's third-largest oil company, trounced profit estimates by nearly
25% when it reported last week. And Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest
oil company, reported a 60% increase in profits Thursday.

*-CNNMoney.com staff writer Steve Hargreaves contributed to this
report* [image:
To top of
page]<http://cnnmoney.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Exxon+posts+quarterly%2C+annual+profit+records+-+Feb.+1%2C+2008&expire=-1&urlID=26270886&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2F2008%2F02%2F01%2Fnews%2Fcompanies%2Fexxon_earnings%2F&partnerID=2200#TOP>

--
Nicholas Roberts
[im] skype:niccolor




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