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Thursday, April 28, 2005

Happy days are here for oil companies
Posted by Jill | 12:24 PM

Yes, that's our Bush -- by the oil companies, of the oil companies, for the oil companies. At the same time as he's cutting Medicaid, veterans benefits, and education, and stuffing the pockets of Halliburton executives with YOUR tax dollars, his other friends in the oil industry are making out like bandits:

Exxon Mobil:

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday that first-quarter earnings soared 44 percent from last year, due mainly to strong crude and natural gas prices. The company said it will boost its share repurchase rate by $1 billion in the second quarter.

Net income surged to $7.86 billion, or $1.22 per share, from $5.44 billion, or 83 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding a $460 million gain on the sale of Exxon's stake in China Petroleum and Chemical, the company earned $1.15 per share in the latest quarter.

Total revenue climbed to $82.05 billion from $67.60 billion last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for the company to post higher operating earnings of $1.20 per share in the latest quarter.

Exxon Mobil said earnings from drilling operations were a record $5.05 billion, an increase of $1.04 billion from the first quarter of 2004, reflecting continued strength in crude and natural gas prices. Earnings from refining and retail sales grew $139 million to $1.14 billion, with improved worldwide refining conditions partly offset by weaker marketing margins.


Shell:

Shell (RD: news, chart, profile) (SC: news, chart, profile) said first-quarter net income rose 42% to $6.67 billion, with revenue up 26% to $72.2 billion.

On a cost of supplies basis, earnings rose 28% to $5.55 billion on higher fuel prices, strong LNG earnings and higher downstream earnings in Oil Products and Chemicals. That topped the $4.68 billion analyst forecast, according to Dow Jones Newswires.


BP:

P, the world's second-biggest publicly traded oil company, posted a 29 percent jump in first-quarter profit, helped by higher energy prices.

Net income rose to $5.49 billion, or 25.6 cents a share, excluding gains in the value of its oil inventories, BP said yesterday. Revenues rose 16 percent, to $79.8 billion, from a year earlier.

BP, which is second to the Exxon Mobil Corporation, is the first of the world's large oil companies to report earnings from the first quarter, when New York crude oil averaged $57.60 a barrel, natural gas prices rallied in the United States and Europe and gasoline prices surged.


Meanwhile, the rest of the economy -- the one you and I live in -- is growing at its slowest rate in two years, largely because of the cash with which the oil companies are stuffing their pockets:

Buffeted by rising energy prices and weakened consumer and business spending, the economy grew at an annual rate of just 3.1 percent in the first quarter. The slowest pace of expansion since in two years was evidence of a new "soft patch."

The latest reading on gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department on Thursday, showed that consumers and businesses turned cautious in their spending in the January-to-March quarter, a key factor in the slower economic growth. High energy prices and rising borrowing costs are causing Americans to tighten their belts a bit.

The first-quarter's GDP figure, down from a 3.8 percent pace logged in the final quarter of 2004, represents the economy's most sluggish showing since the first quarter of 2003, when economic activity expanded at an even more mediocre 1.9 percent rate.

GDP, the broadest barometer of the economy's health, measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States.

On Wall Street, stocks slumped. The Dow Jones industrials were down 54 points and the Nasdaq was off 10 points in morning trading.

[snip]

In second report Thursday, the number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits rose last week as businesses coped with rising costs. New claims rose by 21,000 to 320,000, the Labor Department said.


And in the midst of these reports, the President of the United States of Petroleum Refiners is going to appear on television tonight to tell you that drilling the 10 days worth of oil that's in ANWR is going to solve our energy needs in perpetuity. Of course, what does he care? He thinks Jesus is coming, and he and his oil company buddies will have luxury boxes, complete with open bar, hot and cold buffet, and lap dancers, to watch the unrepentant burn in the unholy flame of God's wrath.
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