ExxonMobil earns record $39.5 billion in 2006
The oil empire that is ExxonMobil generated $39.5 Billion in profits in 2006 by providing to us the one thing we need most, good old-fashioned oil. A big reason for what amounts to the largest profit ever in U.S. history is the $3 per gallon gasoline that ruined our love for SUVs and trucks last year. Gas prices fell towards the end of the year, but ExxonMobil had already made its money by that point. Many lawmakers want to heavily tax ExxonMobil for being too wealthy, but the oil guys point out that they spend a lot of money finding more oil so they can keep the crude coming. As it turns out, it's more expensive to drill a mile deep in the middle of the ocean than it is to poke a straw in the Saudi Arabian desert. Yeah, they're buying back a lot of stock too, but at least they're giving us the energy we need whenever we need it, which is better than the alternative.
[Source: The Car Connection]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mike 1:36PM (2/02/2007)
That's $1,251.70 a second for an entire year, not in sales but in PURE PROFIT. I'll be calling Tesla Motors tomorrow...
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retsel 1:51PM (2/02/2007)
the sun gives us the energy we need when we need it... to bad we dont use it...
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ryan De Baker 1:45PM (2/02/2007)
i'd feel better if they took away the tax breaks once profits reach x dollars, and at a bare minimum take away the subsidies. why do they still get these?
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911 4:03PM (2/02/2007)
Everyone keep on buying your SUV's and trucks!
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jt 1:49PM (2/02/2007)
Crooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Brian 1:49PM (2/02/2007)
Not to mention a whole bunch of us own stock in Exxon by way of our 401k's and other vehicles. So congrats to them for a job well done.
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Greg 2:07PM (2/02/2007)
OIL ON THE WOUND......
Exxon has yet to pay the fines levied against it from the Exxon Valdez Disaster (As of January 2004). I believe Exxon is still appealing the judgement against them in court all of these years later.
It has been 17 years since the Exxon Valdez disaster.
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matt 2:00PM (2/02/2007)
it costs $1-3 million to drill a 20,000 ft hole
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big 2:03PM (2/02/2007)
thank you PRESIDENT BUSH! THANK YOU.. >:(
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JonM in MN 2:09PM (2/02/2007)
...and with that profit, ExxonMobil will be 1) drilling for more oil 2) hiring more people to do 1) and 3) paying higher wages
Some need a basic course in economics. Profits, even record profits, are NOT evil.
Just filled up this morning @ 1.99 too. Those evil bastards. Making all that filthy money by providing me cheap gas.
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JonM in MN 2:13PM (2/02/2007)
And can I ask an indelicate question?
Would or would not the US be better off if Ford and GM were reporting record profits?
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iQuack 2:18PM (2/02/2007)
The loopy Democrats will go nuts calling for "windfall profits" taxes and other bad policies to discourage the discovery of oil by companies whose earnings are volatile.
Any attempts to punish the current success of Exxon or other oil company will end up hurting the public despite all the silly grandstanding by leftists in power.
The best hope for the U.S. economy is that the Democrats do less damage than they might because ideas like raising the minimum wage and raising taxes will hurt, not help low income people nor anyone else.
There should be a requirement for all members of Congress to pass a test showing they understand Economics 101--it's clear that many currently don't.
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JMa 2:20PM (2/02/2007)
As an individual with Exxon stock in my portfolio, and as a Prius driver, all I can say is HAHAHAHA.
I love capitalism, where the strong strive, and the weak die.
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Quattrofan 2:25PM (2/02/2007)
Me thinks.... what will these bloodsuckers do, when the shit runs out in 50-75 years?
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Jim 2:29PM (2/02/2007)
Good for them - their business is doing well and no one should be crying that they make too much money. Stop buying their products and they won't make money - but I dont expect to see many people converting to bikes.
I do agree though that the government should cut back on tax breaks and subsidies provided. May have been needed in the past, but these companies have grown up and are doing well.
For me, until we're paying $8+ a gallon, it's cheap gas and I'm happy to keep filling up my SUV with it.
James
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Mike 2:31PM (2/02/2007)
JMa has the right idea, get in on both sides of the equation and hedge your bets. Don't get mad, get smart.
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Marty Vance 2:53PM (2/02/2007)
All the oil companies are operating in the black. It's time for the subsidies paid to them by the US government to end.
This may sound too socialist for the uber-capitalists out there, but maybe it's time to put a profit cap on all commodities (especially oil, utilities, and cable TV): any profits that exceed a certain amount get taxed at 100%.
Profits are great, but this is becoming absurd.
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P to the C 2:54PM (2/02/2007)
This is the new American Way under the Bush administration. The common working man busts his backside to pay taxes, just so they can pay it right back out in subsidies to businesses earning record profits. Either that or funnelling pet projects to your cronies, but that's another story. Then you have people HAPPY to pay $2 a gallon and fuel their profits even higher. Utter madness.
And actually the world would be far better off if Exxon was recording record looses because that would likely mean less oil consumption, less pollution, and less money funding the terrorists. Record profits mean more of the same, and the same is bad.
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JonM in MN 3:00PM (2/02/2007)
So true P. Record profits simply didn't exist prior to 2001.
Before you go off and bash corporations and profits again, ya might wanna go and check and see what they pay in taxes, and how much more that amount is since, say, 2003. Do people buy more gas when it's chaep? Yup. Do they pay more gas taxes when they buy more because it's cheap? Yup.
And personally, I think you make too much money. I think every dollar you make over, say, 35K, should be taxed at 100%.
Good luck.
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bob h. 4:09PM (2/02/2007)
9% return on assets is not greed.
It is a large company fools..
They did not make their profit from government subsidies or tax breaks...
They made it by working and being efficient.
You big socialised government should do as good.
What how your hero Chavez does with his oil company.
It will be back in the stone age before you know it.
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