Soaring Gas Prices

[Mister_T]

Surprised at what? That Exxon is taking such a small amount of profit from each gallon of gasoline? I thought you would be surprised.

And the percentage each party gets disproves what exactly?

I'm not surprised that our government has their hands in there. And that "small amount" of profit has been breaking records for the past 3-4 years. Again, with all of this profit being made, they could use that money to "fix" their refiniery "problems" since that is the main excuse of why each year gas reaches a new, unbelievable amount in such a short amount of time. This is also considering that despite the record high gas prices, the cost per barrel has gone down.

 

[Aqualung]

Just another peice of evidence that big government = screwed citizens.

 

[SoyLeche]

And the percentage each party gets disproves what exactly?

I'm not surprised that our government has their hands in there. And that "small amount" of profit has been breaking records for the past 3-4 years. Again, with all of this profit being made, they could use that money to "fix" their refiniery "problems" since that is the main excuse of why each year gas reaches a new, unbelievable amount in such a short amount of time. This is also considering that the cost per barrel has been cheaper than it has been, as of late.

Ok, I have tried my best to dig through Exxon's annual statement and figure out what is going on. The 5-7 cents thing I heard from a third party, and I can't verify it. Here is what I have verified:

The profit that Exxon recieved from it's US operations in 2006 was $9,418,000,000.
In the US in 2006 they sold 2,729,000 barrels of different products per day (I can't get the profit broken down into automobile gasoline and others, so we'll have to look at all of their products together. A little over half of the total # of barrels is gassoline anyway). Doing a little conversion gets us to approximately 30,878,640,000 gallons per year.

A little division gives us $0.30 of profit per gallon.

What is the point? The point is that if Exxon took $0 in profit (and that profit number is actually a little high, as it includes items that are not directly related to sales, like investment income and such) instead of paying $3.00 per gallon at the pump we would be paying $2.70.

In case you were wondering, the profit per gallon for 2004 was $0.22, so they may well be stealing $0.08 per gallon from us, but that is still just a difference between $2.92 and $3.00 per gallon.

 

[SoyLeche]

And the percentage each party gets disproves what exactly?

I'm not surprised that our government has their hands in there. And that "small amount" of profit has been breaking records for the past 3-4 years. Again, with all of this profit being made, they could use that money to "fix" their refiniery "problems" since that is the main excuse of why each year gas reaches a new, unbelievable amount in such a short amount of time. This is also considering that despite the record high gas prices, the cost per barrel has gone down.

You also realize that there are a whole lot of restrictions and regulations on refineries, right? It is next to impossible to open up a new one. I have no idea how difficult it is to update them.

 

[Mister_T]

What is the point? The point is that if Exxon took $0 in profit (and that profit number is actually a little high, as it includes items that are not directly related to sales, like investment income and such) instead of paying $3.00 per gallon at the pump we would be paying $2.70

I'll take $2.70 over $3.53 any day of the week.

In case you were wondering, the profit per gallon for 2004 was $0.22, so they may well be stealing $0.08 per gallon from us, but that is still just a difference between $2.92 and $3.00 per gallon.

I'm not sure where you got your numbers from, but let's say they're correct. The whole reason why gas has shot up in price in the past 3 years is because of refinery problems. The past 3 years gas companies have reported record breaking profits, each year being more profitable than the last. Yet, we still have refinery "problems". Anytime you hear the words "Iran" and "conflict" in the news, gas companies have yet another reason to raise the cost. When price crude oil was at an all time high, gas companies had yet another excuse as to why they're charging so much. Now crude oil has gone down in price and yet the cost of gasoline has broken the high price barrier it set last year around this time due to refinery "problems" yet again.

It seems that no matter what, they have a number of excuses to keep raising the price and keep breaking the profit records they had set the previous year. The percentage they post as their profit earnings are irrelevent.

 

[Mister_T]

You also realize that there are a whole lot of restrictions and regulations on refineries, right? It is next to impossible to open up a new one. I have no idea how difficult it is to update them.

Remember who controls those restrictions and regulations. They don't want to open up new ones or update old ones. Then they'd have no excuses to ream the consumer. Too much money to be made.

 

[SoyLeche]

Remember who controls those restrictions and regulations.

The EPA?

 

[Mister_T]

The EPA?

U.S.Government my friend. The people who get that bigger percentage of profit. You can call it whatever you like.

 

[SoyLeche]

The percentage they post as their profit earnings are irrelevent.

These are not the percentages they post. These are percentages I figured out from their annual statement, and if you have ever worked at a publicly traded company before you might well know that there is little in this world that is less accurate than an annual statement.

 

[Aqualung]

I'll take $2.70 over $3.53 any day of the week.

You're only allowed to take &2.70 over $3.00, because in SoyLeche's example, three dollars was the price, not three-fifty three.

 

[SoyLeche]

U.S.Government my friend. The people who get that bigger percentage of profit. You can call it whatever you like.

The EPA is the entity that is stopping new refineries from being built. If you want to complain to someone, complain to them.

 

[SoyLeche]

You're only allowed to take &2.70 over $3.00, because in SoyLeche's example, three dollars was the price, not three-fifty three.

Good catch

You'd be paying $3.23

 

[Mister_T]

These are not the percentages they post. These are percentages I figured out from their annual statement, and if you have ever worked at a publicly traded company before you might well know that there is little in this world that is less accurate than an annual statement.

Regardless if you want to call it "percentages" or "annual statement", it is the numbers that they post and it is irrelevent when talking about making record breaking profits year after year.

 

[Mister_T]

The EPA is the entity that is stopping new refineries from being built. If you want to complain to someone, complain to them.

As I'm aware. And it's quite obvious why they aren't taking measures to update or build new ones.

 

[Aqualung]

Good catch

You'd be paying $3.23

A frubal-worthy catch, IMO. :slap:

 

[SoyLeche]

Regardless if you want to call it "percentages" or "annual statement", it is the numbers that they post and it is irrelevent when talking about making record breaking profits year after year.

Do you even know what and annual statement is? In case you are not, it explains where the profits come from, so I would think that it is more than relevent when talking about profits. It's necessary.

 

[SoyLeche]

As I'm aware. And it's quite obvious why they aren't taking measures to update or build new ones.

I've wasted enough of my day looking up actual data. Why don't you take a shot at it. Back up your claims with something, why doncha?

 

[Mister_T]

A frubal-worthy catch, IMO. :slap:

More money in my pocket either way.

 

[SoyLeche]

More money in my pocket either way.

Sure, but no where near enough to explain the higher prices you've seen over the last 3 years. $0.08 <> $2.00

 

[Mister_T]

Do you even know what and annual statement is? In case you are not, it explains where the profits come from, so I would think that it is more than relevent when talking about profits. It's necessary.

Yes I are do. And it still doesn't matter. The point is record profits are being made regardless, off of refineries not being fixed.