Exxon Reports $8.4 Billion Profit
Second Oil Giant Reports Huge 1st Quarter Take Amid Gas Price Spike
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Play CBS Video Video Too Much Profit For Big Oil? With gasoline prices soaring, frustrated consumers are wondering how and why oil industries are making so much money. Harry Smith speaks with Rayola Dougher of the American Petroleum Institute.
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Video Oil Industry In The Spotlight As gas prices soar and oil giants report record profits, Congress wants to make sure the major oil and gas companies are paying all the taxes they owe. Bianca Solorzano reports.
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Video Explaining Gas Prices Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, sits down with CBS News National correspondent Byron Pitts and tries to explain the problem with perception.
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(CBS/AP)
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Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., left, accompanied by other members of Congress, gestures during a Capitol Hill news conference, Tuesday, April 25, 2006, to discuss rising gas prices. (AP)
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President Bush delivers a speech on energy to the Renewable Fuels Association in Washington, Tuesday, April 25, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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Gasoline prices of more than $3 a gallon are posted at a Brooklyn, N.Y., gas station Monday, April 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Interactive Gas Prices State-by-state averages, tips to improve mileage and a look at what fuels prices at the pump.
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Interactive Presidential Approval Ratings A sampling of President Bush's overall job approval ratings at selected points during his term in office.
Exxon Mobil Corp. made an $8.4 billion profit in the first quarter – that's a 7 percent increase over last year.
Net income rose to $1.37 per share for the January-March period from $7.86 billion, or $1.22 per share, a year ago.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were actually looking for an even higher profit of $1.47 per share, and shares fell $1.20, or almost 2 percent, in pre-market trading.
Revenue grew to $88.98 billion from $82.05 billion a year earlier. Higher crude oil and natural gas prices and improved marketing margins were partly offset by lower chemical margins.
Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil is the world's largest publicly traded oil company. In January, it posted the highest quarterly and annual profits of any U.S. company in history: $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $36.13 billion for the full year.
ConocoPhillips announced record profits yesterday, but it’s no doubt not the last. On Friday Chevron is expected to announce Close to $4 billion in profits.
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group, is spending millions of dollars in newspaper and television ads to convince Americans that their profits have nothing to do with higher gas prices, CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts reports.
Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute told Pitts that the industry can’t lower their profits because they have a responsibility to their shareholders.
“All of the companies here in the U.S. that deal with the consumer are investor-owned companies... The responsibility of the management there is to insure that that they are providing for shareholder return.”
ConocoPhillips' net income jumped to $3.29 billion, or $2.34 per share for the January-March period, from $2.91 billion, or $2.05 per share, in the year-earlier period. Those results were in line with analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Financial.
Revenue at ConocoPhillips grew to $47.9 billion in the first quarter from $38.9 billion last year. The company said higher oil prices were partially tempered by lower natural gas prices compared with the fourth quarter.
Fadel Gheit, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., said things will only get better for the company, citing its $33.9 billion acquisition of Burlington Resources completed March 31.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
