Exxon posts biggest ever US profits

[Vertigor]

Look at it from an industry perspective:

Several of these oil companies have been sitting on a pile of cash for the last couple of years. Up until now, they have been conservative about spending that cash because they fear oil will drop down to $20 a barrel again. And there is, quite frankly, no good way to manage that much cash.

It's a great problem to have, but it still remains a problem. It's like when your website suddenly goes from a few thousands hits a day to a few million. Properly dealing with that kind of growth (or profit) can make or break your company.

A more apt analogy might be to the tobacco industry. You know your current line of business is going to dry up one day, but you are generating all this beautiful cash now. What do you do?

[Eziekial]

Buy a food company of course!

[Vertigor]

And rename yourself Altria. So clever, not even your mother would know!

[Eziekial]

Hozah! Stock price doubles in 3 years.

[Phlegm]

A more apt analogy might be to the tobacco industry. You know your current line of business is going to dry up one day, but you are generating all this beautiful cash now. What do you do?

As long as babies are being born everyday, I dont think the tobacco companies have to worry about businss drying up especially in Asian countries.

[Scoota McGee]

Stock tip: Halliburton subsidiary KBR is probably going to be spinning off as an IPO in the not so distant future. And it looks like the US is starting to increase its petroleum production capabilities after 30 years.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/fina ... ANSION.XML

[Captain Insano]

I really don't care so much at this point in the fact that we use oil for all our fuel needs, but the fact that it is all foreign oil is a huge problem.

We need to burn all the ecofreaks on crosses and start drilling for that shit like crazy here on our own soil and get that shoal oil technique working. Once we've ended our dependancy on foreign crude then start really pushing alternative fuels.

[Durck]

Still think Iraq isn't a war for Oil? Remember, boys and girls, Bush & Co have never cared about the individual, look at their track recrd, they're all about catering to the mega-businesses. THEY seem to be making out rather well, eh?

-Arlos

Everything is about oil... stupid!

The Oil Industry profit margin for this year is 9%. The Defense Industry profit margin for this year is 8.78%. High Cost of Production followed by record demand and loss of support infrastructure results in record profits in DOLLAR terms, not in overall profit margin. They are not record profits in total margin, its just in total dollars due to the high cost of production. You guys really need to take some economic classes. BTW, Microsoft made 33% profit last year. Why not force them to give some money back? Everyone thinks the Energy companies are gouging, because gas is so expensive but there is more to the story, that you guys always seem to leave out...

Last week a senator asked the CEO of Exxon to give some of the profits back. Why? The congress has not authorized the fabrication of a new Oil Refinery in 30 years. 30 Fucking years. The congress has not opened a new Oil production range in almost the same amount of time. What incentive do we give to the oil companies, they cant open new exploration ranges, they cant drill and increase native production levels and are forced to rely on middle eastern reserves. For what reason, should they give their windfalls back? Besides, prices are dropping steadily in a time period that traditionally the market prices increase. Oh, and did you guys forget a couple little events this past summer... called Katrina and Rita?

Its all supply and demand and working just the way it is supposed to. Higher cost to manufacture = Higher cost to customer with similar gain in profit. Nevermind that more money is coming in so the actual profit $$ is record; except when looking at the big picture.

Yet, yesterday, we scrapped the ANWR decision, because 1.5 Million acres of land along the norther coast - having the largest known deposits of U.S. reachable oil - sits next to the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve. This land is not designated a part of the reserve, but wildlife freaks, worry about Caribu and therefore, we can't produce our OWN oil and are force to rely on Middle Eastern oil reserves. This NON-Reserve land is 2% of the total size of the ANWR. It has been proven to be a major source.

Yet, because activists, moonbats and freaks worry about Caribu baby's, they force a country into a situation where it is forced to rely on foreign oil, and then they run around convincing you all is bad because the oil companies are making money when that foreign oil goes up in price. Its socialism and stupidity. And we should all be ashamed for bitching about high prices when we caused the mess in the first place.

-Duck

[Goose_Man]

Still think Iraq isn't a war for Oil? Remember, boys and girls, Bush & Co have never cared about the individual, look at their track recrd, they're all about catering to the mega-businesses. THEY seem to be making out rather well, eh?

-Arlos

Everything is about oil... stupid!

The Oil Industry profit margin for this year is 9%. The Defense Industry profit margin for this year is 8.78%. High Cost of Production followed by record demand and loss of support infrastructure results in record profits in DOLLAR terms, not in overall profit margin. They are not record profits in total margin, its just in total dollars due to the high cost of production. You guys really need to take some economic classes. BTW, Microsoft made 33% profit last year. Why not force them to give some money back? Everyone thinks the Energy companies are gouging, because gas is so expensive but there is more to the story, that you guys always seem to leave out...

Last week a senator asked the CEO of Exxon to give some of the profits back. Why? The congress has not authorized the fabrication of a new Oil Refinery in 30 years. 30 Fucking years. The congress has not opened a new Oil production range in almost the same amount of time. What incentive do we give to the oil companies, they cant open new exploration ranges, they cant drill and increase native production levels and are forced to rely on middle eastern reserves. For what reason, should they give their windfalls back? Besides, prices are dropping steadily in a time period that traditionally the market prices increase. Oh, and did you guys forget a couple little events this past summer... called Katrina and Rita?

Its all supply and demand and working just the way it is supposed to. Higher cost to manufacture = Higher cost to customer with similar gain in profit. Nevermind that more money is coming in so the actual profit $$ is record; except when looking at the big picture.

Yet, yesterday, we scrapped the ANWR decision, because 1.5 Million acres of land along the norther coast - having the largest known deposits of U.S. reachable oil - sits next to the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve. This land is not designated a part of the reserve, but wildlife freaks, worry about Caribu and therefore, we can't produce our OWN oil and are force to rely on Middle Eastern oil reserves. This NON-Reserve land is 2% of the total size of the ANWR. It has been proven to be a major source.

Yet, because activists, moonbats and freaks worry about Caribu baby's, they force a country into a situation where it is forced to rely on foreign oil, and then they run around convincing you all is bad because the oil companies are making money when that foreign oil goes up in price. Its socialism and stupidity. And we should all be ashamed for bitching about high prices when we caused the mess in the first place.

-Duck

A-motherfucking-men

[brinstar]

fuck assholes who think anwr should be dug up


not to mention there's only enough oil there to supply us with 6-18 months worth and then it'll be gone and we'll be right back where we started except our lands will be uglier

[Eziekial]

What are you basing your rebutal on? Last I heard there is over 20 BILLION bbls of oil under ANWR. That's like 10% of total US oil reserves.

[Martrae]

Besides the area that's been set aside for drilling for ages up there is a wasteland already. I doubt you could make it uglier.

[Durck]

Never think the U.S. doesn't have any Oil Reserves, and don't beleive that the Anti-ANWR propoganda is true.

If we had balls, we would develop this and go tell the Middle East to fugg off...

Wednesday
August 31, 2005

RAND STUDY SAYS HIGH WORLD OIL PRICES AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS COULD MAKE SHALE-DERIVED OIL COMPETITIVE

Oil shale from the Western United States could become the source of millions of barrels of competitively priced oil each day in 20 to 30 years if technological, environmental and governance issues are resolved, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

As a result of rising world petroleum prices and advances in extraction techniques, oil shale deposits that are now difficult to extract could be recoverable in the future at costs that would make them a major provider of U.S. energy needs and an attractive alternative to conventional crude oil, the study found.

However, the study says many uncertainties about technology performance and environmental impacts will not be fully resolved until the initial round of large-scale commercial oil shale facilities are constructed and operated. Given this, the report recommends that if oil shale is commercially produced, development should proceed at a measured pace.

Since the future prospects for oil shale remain uncertain, the RAND report recommends that the federal government refrain from major investments in oil shale development until the private sector is prepared to commit its technical, management and financial resources. However, the report recommends a few low-cost efforts that can begin in the near future to move oil shale development forward.

The report by the RAND Environment, Energy and Economic Development program says that between 500 billion and 1.1 trillion barrels of oil are technically recoverable from high-grade oil shale deposits located in the Green River geological formation, covering parts of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

The mid-point of the RAND estimate – 800 billion barrels – is three times the size of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves. This is enough oil to meet 25 percent of America's current oil demand for the next 400 years.

The benefits of a competitive oil shale industry are substantial. For an output of 3 million barrels per day, the study estimates direct economic benefits of about $20 billion per year. Federal, state and local governments would receive about half of this amount in the form of lease payments, royalties and taxes.

Production at 3 million barrels per day also could likely cause oil prices to fall by 3 to 5 percent, saving American oil consumers roughly $15 billion to $20 billion annually, according to the report. A multimillion-barrel per day oil shale industry could also create several hundred thousand jobs in the United States.

And... what about the ANWR Reserve... which recently was slated to be tapped, and then dropped after Moderate Republicans blocked the action.

How much oil is there in ANWR?

A frequently cited number is 10.4 billion barrels. That represents the amount of oil that is technically recoverable; other deposits aren't reachable by current drilling technology.

To put that in context: The U.S. consumes about 20 million barrels of petroleum a day, or 7.32 billion barrels per year, according to 2003 figures from the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, or EIA. The U.S. produces 5.7 million barrels of crude oil a day, and imports a net of 11.2 million barrels a day. (The rest of the petroleum comes from natural gas liquids, refinery gains, and other factors.)

Proven domestic reserves -- or known sources that oil companies report in their financial statements and are, for the most part, already tapping -- total 21.89 billion barrels, mostly in Alaska, Texas, California and offshore. The total oil in so-called undiscovered resources, which include as-yet-undrilled areas like ANWR, is believed to be about 15 times greater.

But 10.4 billion barrels is just a best guess. The USGS prefers to say the total is somewhere between 5.7 billion and 16 billion barrels, based on a 1998 study republished in 2001.

Why such a wide range? Because the estimate is based on seismic data from two decades ago. The USGS used dynamite and vibrational machines in two separate studies in 1984 and 1985 to shake the surface of ANWR, then measured resulting seismic activity. The data yield a fuzzy picture of what lies beneath.

Drilling advocates often point to Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil fields, where initial estimates of technically recoverable oil have already been exceeded, to argue that ANWR estimates may also be understated. But the Prudhoe Bay estimates were made decades before the ones for ANWR, using even less reliable methods.

Not that our Congress and Senate care.

-Duck