Economy down 3.8%, Exxon posts record profits.

[Casper]

http://digg.com/politics/Economy_down_3_8_Exxon_posts_record_profits

[Disclaimer]

If gas prices stay where they're at... I don't know if they'll continue making RECORD profits year over year over year anymore.

From the article:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/30/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm?cnn=yes

Exxon said its fourth quarter earnings of almost $8 billion were hurt by falling oil prices, higher operating expenses, and charges related to Gulf Coast hurricanes.

Exxon made $11.7 billion in the same period last year, and a record $13.38 billion in the third quarter or 2008.

But Exxon, which sells more barrels of refined products such as gasoline than it does crude oil, made up for some of the losses with higher profits on the refined products.

The price for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and the like didn't fall as much as oil prices in the quarter, so the profitability on those products increased, although marginally.

Exxon made about $5.6 billion selling crude oil in the quarter, down from about $8.2 billion in 2007.

It made about $2.4 billion selling gasoline and other refined products, up from about $2.3 billion in 2007.

Exxon spent $6.8 billion finding and developing new oil reserves in the quarter - up 11% from 2007 - despite the fall in oil prices.

But it's not clear if the increased spending is the result of more actual activity or simply higher costs

[Todd#43]

If gas prices stay where they're at... I don't know if they'll continue making RECORD profits year over year over year anymore.

From the article:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/30/news/companies/exxon_earnings/index.htm?cnn=yes

They're record profits in terms of the dollars, but not as a percentage of revenue. Most of the oil related companies (refiners and such) have shitty earnings when compared to sales.

As long as people continue to use the product at a record pace (although it has been down lately) the refiners will continue to enjoy record profits.