ExxonMobil Shatters Annual Profit Record

Oil Company Reports $45.2B Profit In '08, But With Fall in Pump Prices, 4Q Earnings Plunge

(AP)  Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago.

The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007.

The extraordinary full-year profit wasn't a surprise given crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near an unheard of $150 a barrel in July. Since then, however, prices have fallen roughly 70 percent amid a deepening global economic crisis.

In the fourth quarter alone crude tumbled 60 percent, prompting spending and job cuts in an industry that was reporting robust, often record, profits as recently as last summer.

With piles of cash and diversified operations, the majors like Exxon Mobil have fared better than many smaller oil and gas companies, but Friday's results show no one is completely insulated from the ongoing malaise.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon said net income slid sharply to $7.8 billion, or $1.55 a share, in the October-December period. That compared to $11.7 billion, or $2.13 a share, in the same period a year ago, when Exxon set a U.S. record for quarterly profit. It has since topped that mark twice, first in last year's second quarter and then with earnings of $14.83 billion in the third quarter.

Revenue in the most-recent quarter fell 27 percent to $84.7 billion.

On average, analysts expected the company to earn $1.45 per share in the latest quarter on revenue of $69.1 billion.

Shares rose $1.14 to $78.14 in premarket trading.

[cusefan21]

Hmm not bad at the "EXPENSE" of the US taxpayer. Now just wait and see how much bonus money those EXXON/MOBIL execs put right into their bank accounts soon enough.. Geeezzzz what the government could do if they taxed the *** out of that 45 billion and used to to build some nuclear power plants it cost anywhere between 2 and 8 million dollars to build one and everyone knows we need to escape the fossil fuel route and go to nuclear power like the french not only that it''s much more environmentally safer and cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation, except where there is direct access to low-cost fossil fuels. Fuel costs for nuclear plants are a minor proportion of total generating costs, though capital costs are greater than those for coal-fired plants and much greater than those for gas-fired plants. In assessing the cost competitiveness of nuclear energy, decommissioning and waste disposal costs are taken into account. Also in fact the cost per kilowatt hour for nuclear power is 1.72 cents, as opposed to coal at 2.37, gas 6.75 and petroleum at 9.63. So america is it time we went the route of nuclear power and rid ourselves of the oil use except in out vehicles and where it really is needed

[cusefan21]

Hmm not bad at the "EXPENSE" of the US taxpayer. Now just wait and see how much bonus money those EXXON/MOBIL execs put right into their bank accounts soon enough.. Geeezzzz what the government could do if they taxed the *** out of that 45 billion and used to to build some nuclear power plants it cost anywhere between 2 and 8 million dollars to build one and everyone knows we need to escape the fossil fuel route and go to nuclear power like the french not only that it''s much more environmentally safer and cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation, except where there is direct access to low-cost fossil fuels. Fuel costs for nuclear plants are a minor proportion of total generating costs, though capital costs are greater than those for coal-fired plants and much greater than those for gas-fired plants. In assessing the cost competitiveness of nuclear energy, decommissioning and waste disposal costs are taken into account. Also in fact the cost per kilowatt hour for nuclear power is 1.72 cents, as opposed to coal at 2.37, gas 6.75 and petroleum at 9.63. So america is it time we went the route of nuclear power and rid ourselves of the oil use except in out vehicles and where it really is needed

[cameraphone]

I seem to recall that when the economy was on the edge, high gas prices pushed us off the cliff.

Your Welcome, Exxon Mobil!

[fiberglass3]

What''s wrong with this picture?
Companies all over the country are laying off and closing and there is a massive wave of bankruptcies.
Yet record profits are announce by one company.

[dkhorse1]

The cherry on the cake is that they receive billions in tax breaks every year.

________________________________________
Posted by endrepubs at 04:08 PM : Jan 31, 2009


Now that Obama is in office, I would suggest keeping an eye on what happens with these companies. My money (especially those who are invested in them) is nothing %u201CCHANGES%u201D.

[endrepubs]

Does this company not have an ounce of Patriotism? The entire country is suffering from recession and they are raking in stratospheric profits. They could still reduce the price of gas and still make obscene profits. The cherry on the cake is that they receive billions in tax breaks every year.

[shanev137]

Posted by notso9 at 11:24 AM : Jan 31, 2009


That''s a pretty stupid argument.

We all paid the same amount of gas tax when gas was $4 a gallon.


Like he said:


$2 a gallon for gas, with oil at $40 a barrel.

$4 a gallon for gas, with oil at $150 a barrel.



Do the math (if you''re smart enough).

[forever1973]

funny, I broke my "gas budget" record.

[mom_o_truth]

worstever2 wrote: "Has it even entered the rich and elite and politically powerful, that at some point in time the average beat down JOE may take up arms and attempt to rebalance the scales with some honest to goodness violence and killing?"

Posted by anon00: Yes, actually it has. That''''s why "Homeland Security" **preceded** the financial crisis. Nice plan, huh?
------------------------------------
That is why the umbrella was created to secure the sucked money from getting wet.

[notso9]

At $40 a barrel for oil, gas should be around $1 a gallon. Instead gas is around $2 a gallon. Do the math.....record profits for the oil companies!!!!!!!!

Posted by Hunterdon6

You forget that about .50 to .70 cents a gallon is taxes. At 1.89 you are paying about 1.19 a gallon, and you still whine? The only reason it is that low now is because of the tanked economy. It should have never dropped below $3.00 a gallon, so be happy.

[troglobyte]

There is a thermonuclear reactor in the sky that provides us with more energy than we could invent ways to use. If that is not enough, the planet Jupiter has enough methane to power Earth for thousands of decades. We have the technology to harvest these resources and we should be using them. Stop living in the 1900''s using 1900''s technology. The only thing that limits mankind, is mankind.
The record oil company profits could easily finance this, with change to spare.

[endrepubs]

The cherry on the cake is that they get billions in tax breaks every year on top of the stratospheric profits they make.

[hunterdon6]

At $40 a barrel for oil, gas should be around $1 a gallon. Instead gas is around $2 a gallon. Do the math.....record profits for the oil companies!!!!!!!!

[notso9]

Or is it because ExxonMobil is very budget oriented. They save their money so they can weather the down times without having to reorganize and lay everyone off. That is why they are survuvung right now when others are failing. They are also vaer diverse in their business. Don''t think electric cars will cripple ExxonMobil. They are supporting and investing in the technology, which by the way will still consume as much oil to produce the components needed to build the batteries and vehicles themselves. As far as taxes, you should investigate before you write. They are a VERY large corporation and pay huge taxes. Don''t hate them because they know how to run their business.

[sparks224]

The only way to fight these B@stards is to Stop Buying Gasoline.

Drive freeway speed electric cars.

[smt451d]

A gaunt sky twisted the clouds as their gold melted and slithered away. (DR 4-29)

[newsjunky5]

Take it.

[harp1963]

Oh yeah, it''s all about supply and demand. What a crock of c r a p. We''re being price gouged so a small group of guys on the board of directors at Exxon can build castles all around the world. What a disgrace to the regular citizens of America.

[nothappyatall]

Oil Company Reports $45.2B Profit In ''08, But With Fall in Pump Prices, 4Q Earnings Plunge"

ALl stolen from you working familes who had to choose between food on the table and gas to get to work, nice eh?

Isnt it an AMAZING coincidence how right around the time king BUSH the last departs the oil prices all go drastically down so fast! could it be because with him GONE, he isn''t able to drive up oil prices with speculative fears of his attacking the middle east, Iran and so forth.

The prices drop still, even with OPEC cutting the production!

[flsunjnky]

Why not stop the tax cuts to corps. that outsource jobs?