[newcats]

You're an idiot

Amazingly astute there...you make such a blanket judgement of me from one line..Simply amazing....
So if the poor lil oil companies profit margin is so teeny tiny, then how come they are among the richest coroporations around, with consistantly high profits?

[alnitak]

Greed...plain and simple.

Because you made that comment. It's you who is making the blanket judgements - of the oil companies. It's obvious you have just jumped in without knowing how the oil + gas industries work. My knowledge here is not comprehensive (it's a big industry) but I do have a rough idea of the downstream operations.

As for their "consistantly (sic) high profits" perhaps you'd like to dazzle us with the comparison to other major industries, such as retailing, motor manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, finance etc. You have made the assertion, now back it up. Hint: just saying Exxon made $8 billion dollars last year ain't good enough.

I'm not holding my breath...