Exxon Mobil posts lowest annual profit since '02

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Exxon Mobil Corp. said Monday its annual income of $19.3 billion was the smallest in seven years as higher oil prices squeezed profit margins in its refining business.

The results for the world's largest publicly traded oil company reflect the volatility in the price of crude oil over the past years and the impact of the global recession.

When oil spiked above $147 a barrel in mid-2008, Exxon became the king of corporate profits, setting ever-higher marks for earnings by a U.S. company. Then oil prices plummeted late last year, and Exxon suffered a yearlong hangover that included the smallest quarterly earnings in several years.

The Irving, Texas company finished 2009 with a 23 percent decline in fourth-quarter income. Exxon earned $6.05 billion, or $1.27 a share, for the final three months of 2009. That compares with $7.82 billion, or $1.54 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 6 percent to $89.8 billion.

Exxon now has posted lower profits for five straight quarters after setting a record of $14.83 billion in the third quarter of 2008.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/exxon-posts-lowest-annual-profit-since-02/article1451612/

[AndyA]

1. Coincidence?

When there were two oil men in office, profits soared. About the time they left office, profits dropped.

Coincidence? Or two guys taking care of their buds, knowing that those buds would take care of them?

Considering what the price of oil did during the Bush years, I think that alone just screams for an official investigation. What is in that super secret Bush Energy Policy anyway?

Hey, Barack...remember what you said about transparency? That should apply to the Bush years as well!

[Lost4words]

4. And to the Obama admin as well! We havent gotten it yet!

your quote

"Hey, Barack...remember what you said about transparency? That should apply to the Bush years as well!"

[liberal N proud]

10. My thoughts exactly.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Actually

The link was open from when I read this article earlier in LBN:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4251026

You may want to work on your people skills a bit there, Sparky.

[Lost4words]

19. You learn to give what you are given, poopsie

[Sabriel]

3. I'm starting a fund for donations

Who's with me on this?

[Jefferson23]

8. Yea, we need to have a telethon of some such event. Bush and Cheney could

sing a duet.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. I assembled the crew. Let's siphon some cash!

[Jefferson23]

28. ROFL

[belpejic]

6. Gas prices will start to rise

Can't have falling profits in the oil industry now, can we.

[harun]

7. I think they want B*sh back in office.

[santamargarita]

9. Hopefully, less funds for the 2010 elections

[mbperrin]

11. Gee, only $611.59 PER SECOND in profit every single second of the entire

year.

Jesus wept.

[Winterblues]

24. That's NET PROFIT by the way

After every single expense has been paid. Over fifty million dollars a day. Every single day seven days a week, week after week, month after month.

[mbperrin]

27. Yep. Damn shame, isn't it?

But there's no money for healthcare, education, or even routine space forays to keep our satellites alive.

Hmmm...

[theophilus]

12. Poor babies. They sure raked it in summer before last.....helped

start the recession, imo. Anyway, if they want profits they best diversify and start building solar panels and wind turbines. Get busy big oil! Get off you cans and start helping humanity for a change!

[L0oniX]

13. AW the poor little CEO millionaires and congressional stock holders

[MilesColtrane]

14. I have a feeling that oil companies invest in their infrastructure more intensely...

during Democratic administrations.

This leads to a lower bottom line which they can display in defense of any proposed windfall profit tax on the industry.

[Arctic Dave]

25. If that is the case, then I'm for it.

That means the money gets recirculated into the economy and not in to the pockets of a few people. More people working and less chance of an environmental problem caused by poor maintenance on a facility.

[CatholicEdHead]

16. Let's give them a bailout to get them up to the expected levels

:sarcasm:

[Froward69]

17. Gee I feel soo bad for them...

I suppose they will have to reinvest all that profit they made under bush to stay afloat... :sarcasm:

[cufford]

18. Not surprising, actually.

1) The systematic collapse of the U.S. economy is obviously going to make a big dent in the biggest consumer market of oil on the planet, and as such those companies supplying it.

2) After driving gas prices through the roof a while back, in tandem with a collapsing economy, Americans woke up and changed their driving habits big time, suddenly consuming far less gas than they used to. This fundamental shift in the American psyche as it pertains to their cars and how they use them, resulted in an over-supply of oil on the market that the cartels haven't been able to recover from. Prices remain very low and even OPEC cutting production hasn't helped them much.

They got greedy and sabotaged their own market. Serves them right! Just like most big corporations did over the past few decades of so-called "Free Trade", firing well-paid American workers, and now there's no market left for them either. In a manner of sense, they fired their own best customers.

Just goes to show how this short-term-profits mentality of big corporations is ultimately self-destructive to their own well-being over the long term.

They killed their own markets over the long term in the interests of rapacious profits in the short term.

Welcome to American Corporate Capitalism!

[aquart]

20. Were the bonuses down, too? By how much?

[winyanstaz]

21. poor babies......

I say its time to investigate all their books too.
Don't we have laws against war time profiteering?

[truthisfreedom]

22. Our goal is to shrink the oil companies so much that we can drown them in the bathtub.

Screw 'em.

[MrsBrady]

23. Cry me a freaking river. n/t

[dugaresa]

26. Crying over profit, what a laugh