Posted on 05/31/2007 3:41:52 AM PDT by IrishMike
RBOB gasoline $2.22. Looks like freefall now. Bad time to invest, but selling short is an option.
It's all gouging, I tell you! /sarc
Despite the socialist's best efforts, supply and demand still rule the market always. The leftist government has done everything it can to screw up the supply side of the oil market, and now they're whining because limited supply is causing a price rise. They need only look in the mirror to see the cause of high gasoline prices. They put every conceivable barrier up to block drilling off-shore and in ANWR, and they have successfully blocked the construction of numerous refining plants. And now they whine when the market does exactly what markets do when demand is high relative to supply.
well, how are people going to use less when they have to drive to work? That’s a little silly. And the author compares the oil profits to google profit but we don’t need google to get to work. The huge profits that big oil is making by increasing the prices so much is not right. How come other commodities such as food don’t do such a dramatic swing in prices? And if you do a search on high mileage gas vapor patents you will find that the oil companies own a bunch of them as do the car makers. There has been collusion on both of their parts to make sure that high mpg technology hasn’t gotten mass produced so as to keep their profits sky high. The finances of both of them are intertwinned. There just simply is not a fair market when it comes to car fuel...if there was you would see many cars being made to use alcohol and gas and many low cost alcohol stations as well as high tech mpg improvements on all cars. Mr. Pogue was an engineer in the 1930’s and he was able to get 205 mpg’s using his vapor carburetor. He quickly bacame a multimillionaire and sold out his patent rights. Of course, his invention never got produced. I don’t think they are evil...just short sighted greed.
Oh, they don't teach that in public schools any more. Haven't since the '60's.
Like the post, and the tag line.
The information is available, but it isn't made easily available. Compare your gasoline receipt to one from, say, the phone company. The phone bill will gleefully itemize the 25-30% added taxes and fees on each monthly statement, while your gasoline receipt merely gives you the price, amount of gallons, and total cost, with no mention of taxes, fees, or other government-induced costs.
“The information is available, but it isn’t made easily available. Compare your gasoline receipt to one from, say, the phone company. The phone bill will gleefully itemize the 25-30% added taxes and fees on each monthly statement, while your gasoline receipt merely gives you the price, amount of gallons, and total cost, with no mention of taxes, fees, or other government-induced costs?”
You can file your complaint with your local elected representatives...
this office is Closed. LOL
Product in storage is not profit. It is an asset for accounting of net worth but profit requires revenues from sales less expenses. Increasing or decreasing assets only effect profit when they are sold.
I wonder if they could easily reprogram the systems to show that... Might make for an interesting little bit of information on the receipt.
——Awhile back I recall hearing that gas stations only earn 1 to 2 cents per gallon......now I see even an oil apologist labels profit margins as 8-10%. Wonder what they REALLY are?——
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Why just take the word of someone unknown on the internet. Spend just a few minutes and you can look up the profit of any of these publicly traded companies.
2006 ExxonMobil
$39.5B profit on $365.5B revenue, 10.8% profit
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/34088/000119312507042435/d10k.htm#fin59931_2
1st Quarter 2007 ExxonMobil
$9.2B profit on $87.2B revenue, 10.6% profit
http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/11/115/115024/items/242049/1Q07_Earnings_Press_Release.pdf
2006 ConocoPhilliops
$15.5B profit on $183.7B revenue, 8.4% profit
http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/news_releases/2007+News+Releases/012407.htm
1st Quarter 2007
ConocoPhilliops
$3.5B profit on $41.3B revenue, 8.6% profit
http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/news_releases/2007+News+Releases/042507.htm
And just for comparison purposes in 2006 ExxonMobil spent $20B in new infrastructure and exploration. The spent $97B in taxes and duties.
Venezuela is paying for those assets. They are just arguing over the price. Venezuela wants to pay what was invested in them. ExxonMobil claims in today's market they are worth a lot more. I would agree with ExxonMobil, if those facilities were not located in Venezuela. Like any real estate value: location, location and location.
Then you gambled on low fuel cost to buy a better home farther from work. You guessed wrong. That last one desire is actually the overriding one. I have co-workers who live in small apartments and walk to work. That is not my choice, but I don't make the claim I have no choice in needing large amounts of gasoline driving my 4x4 SUV out of town each day.
True, but if a company maintains low enough levels of inventory, the sale may occur while the price is higher than when the inventory was purchased. And not all the "sales" transactions are to John Q. Intercompany transactions would be recorded as "sales." The media will scream at the profit the selling company took, and overlook the bath the purchasing company took.
(Again, I haven't looked it up, just theorizing.)
Gore didn’t actually win an Oscar. I believe the director did.
There are over 60 companies refining oil into gasoline into this country. There are more than 100 domestic oil producers, a couple hundred importing oil and other petroleum products. Many of these are small independents. I don't understand the claim that the market is not competitive when these smaller operators have been in it for decades.
Years ago, USA Today used to show market updates in near upper left portion of paper. NOW, they show gas prices.
Exxon, BP, Shell, and a few other own the oil industry. This is, by definition, an oligopoly.
USA Today ......
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Too liberal for the dodo at the bottom of my bird cage.
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