Exxon declares record-setting profit:

[gtramontelli]

www.mysanantonio.com

Exxon Mobil sets record with $45.2 billion profit

By JOHN PORRETTO
HOUSTON (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 with $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.

Both the per-share and revenue results topped Wall Street forecasts. On average, analysts expected the company to earn $1.45 a share in the latest quarter on revenue of $69.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Shares rose $1.52, or 2 percent, to $78.52 in early trading.

The nation's second largest oil company, Chevron Corp., reported profits of $4.9 billion for the fourth quarter, though revenues slid 26 percent with oil prices in sharp decline.

It earned $2.44 per share in the three months ended Dec. 31. Like Exxon, Chevron easily beat expectations of analysts, who were looking for profits of $1.81 per share.

The industry went into retrenchment toward the end of the year with demand falling.

As expected, Exxon Mobil's bottom line took a beating from its exploration and production, or upstream, arm, where net income fell 31 percent to $5.6 billion. The culprit: lower crude prices, which the company said decreased earnings by $3.2 billion in the fourth quarter alone.

The company, which produces about 3 percent of the world's oil, said overall output fell 3 percent in the most-recent period, a troubling trend in previous quarters. Exxon, which generates more than two-thirds of its earnings from oil and gas production, said production-sharing contracts and OPEC quotas contributed to its lower output.

Results were better at its refining and marketing unit, where earnings rose 6 percent to $2.4 billion as higher margins overcame costs related to last summer's hurricanes and other factors.

The company's chemical division also took a hit, posting net income of $155 million versus $1.1 billion a year ago. Results were hurt by lower volumes and margins and hurricane-repair costs.

Exxon Mobil said it bought 119 million shares of its common stock in the quarter at a cost of $8.8 billion. Roughly $8 billion of that amount was dedicated to reducing the number of shares outstanding; the balance was used to offset shares issued as part of the company's benefit plans.

Exxon said it spent $26.1 billion on capital and exploration projects last year, up 25 percent from 2007. Its earnings release provided no information about its planned spending for 2009.

For the full year, Exxon Mobil's massive profit amounted to $8.69 a share, versus $7.28 a share a year ago.

Seems like Bush took care of his oil buddies.

[county]

Well, no bail outs for those guys. Yet.

[BigArn]

They should be helping out the Auto industry. With out them no big profits, or not as big.

[county]

Originally Posted by BigArn

They should be helping out the Auto industry. With out them no big profits, or not as big.

Right you are. Nationalize big oil now.

[SXSMITH]

So we see two sides of the fence.

Exxon. Which has capital and can create jobs.

Government. Which has trillions in debt and actually kills jobs.

For example:

Mandate could force gas stations out of business - Pasadena Star-News

NYC Mayor Announces $1 Billion In Cuts, Job Losses On Friday - wcbstv.com

Mayor's Budget Calls For Job Cuts, Sales Tax Increase | NBC New York

The Columbus Dispatch : Instead of cleaning up, coal plant might close


Man, you just gotta wonder what you Libs think prosperity and success is.

Wait until you guys get your healthcare reform to reduce costs (aka jobs).

[kunosoura]

Originally Posted by SXSMITH

So we see two sides of the fence.

Exxon. Which has capital and can create jobs.

Government. Which has trillions in debt and actually kills jobs.

For example:

Mandate could force gas stations out of business - Pasadena Star-News

NYC Mayor Announces $1 Billion In Cuts, Job Losses On Friday - wcbstv.com

Mayor's Budget Calls For Job Cuts, Sales Tax Increase | NBC New York

The Columbus Dispatch : Instead of cleaning up, coal plant might close


Man, you just gotta wonder what you Libs think prosperity and success is.

good post.

[SlowGoose]

I'm curious.... does Exxon receive government assistance in any way?

[Trash]

Originally Posted by SlowGoose

I'm curious.... does Exxon receive government assistance in any way?

They got tax cuts.

[bassjones]

tax cuts do not qualify as government assistance...

[bassjones]

Originally Posted by kunosoura

good post.

GREAT post.

[Trash]

Originally Posted by bassjones

tax cuts do not qualify as government assistance...

You mean like welfare?

[SlowGoose]

Beyond tax cuts. I'm genuinely curious.

[Baldrick]

Exxon Mobile is the only stock I hold (outside of 401k and Roth IRA accounts, that is). Maybe I'll get a dividend check! Stimulus, baby!

[bassjones]

Originally Posted by Baldrick

Exxon Mobile is the only stock I hold (outside of 401k and Roth IRA accounts, that is). Maybe I'll get a dividend check! Stimulus, baby!

the irony of this post compared to most of your others is killing me...

[Gaolee]

Exxon made a whole lot of money, and yep, it gets plenty of government subsidies. If the government didn't build roads, all the oil in Persia would be worth a whole lot less.

But, if you think about how Exxon works, their profit margins haven't been outrageous as a percentage of their revenues. There's so much books cooking going on at a huge company like Exxon it's really tough to tell how much they make and how much is accounting rules. I'm not saying they are doing any kind of illegal or fraudulent reporting, just noting there are a lot of perfectly legitimate ways to report income and report expenses. Those different ways are why there are occasional huge write downs of assets held by companies like Exxon. They have various accounting rules for the oil reserves they actually own, including leases, and I don't know enough about how it all works to say much more about it.

As far as Exxon providing jobs while the government kills jobs, all I can say is dollars in the economy are dollars in the economy right now. If you have a job, you have an income, and the entity which signs your paycheck isn't so important. When the economy starts growing again, it will matter more. We are in a down cycle, and in spite of all the ideological naysayers, there's no apparent alternative to Keynesian deficits during a down time. You can accomplish them through tax cuts and massive military spending as Reagan did, or you can accomplish them in other ways like Obama seems to be planning to do.

One thing to remember is these things take on a life of their own, including military spending.