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- swrostmore, on 02/01/2008, -9/+142$3 million PER MINUTE
...Mission Accomplished™ - inactive, on 02/01/2008, -51/+146Screw oil companies ... Bastards.
- pintomp3, on 02/01/2008, -6/+92In the 1990s tensions arose between the native Ogoni people of the Niger Delta and Shell. The concerns of the locals were that very little of the money earned from oil on their land was getting to the people who live there, and the environmental damages caused by Shell's practices [1]. In 1993 the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) organised a large protest against Shell and the government. Shell withdrew its operations from the Ogoni areas but the Nigerian government raided their villages and arrested some of the protest leaders. Some of these arrested protesters, Ken Saro-Wiwa being the most prominent, were later executed against international opposition from the Commonwealth of Nations.[2].
Shell asked the Nigerian government for clemency towards those found guilty, but its request was refused. However, a 2001 Greenpeace report found that "two witnesses that accused them later admitted that Shell and the military had bribed them with promises of money and jobs at Shell. Shell admitted having given money to the Nigerian military..." [3].
In December 2003 Shell Nigeria acknowledged that "we sometimes feed conflict by the way we award contracts, gain access to land, and deal with community representatives"[4], and that it intends to improve on its practices
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_Nigeria - geekchic, on 02/01/2008, -21/+94As usual, the unions don't check the figures first.
Of the £13.9 billion profits, only about £1.4 billion was earnt within the UK - and hence is taxable in the UK. The rest was earnt overseas and taxed there as well.
They can impose a windfall tax if they want - ignoring the damage it would do to regulatory stability in the UK - but it would net just a few hundreds of millions, if that. A vast amount of damage to the UK reputation for an insignificant cash sum. - zanestone, on 02/01/2008, -9/+63I agree, also according to their website they took in 355.7 Billion in Revenue. If their profit was 27.5 billion, that equates to about 7.8% profit.
I am not a big oil fanboy, but 7.8 % profit =/= outrageous IMHO - SeoulBrother, on 02/01/2008, -6/+48Good news! The U.S. can stop subsidizing them now that they're so profitable. (sarcasm).
- VeryBoredNow, on 02/01/2008, -12/+54$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
it's what it's all about. - Conwaysb0718, on 02/01/2008, -9/+42This is exactly what I'm talking about when everyone gets all pissy about the price of the barrel, yet companies who refine it are still making ridiculous profit. It would be one thing if oil was 100 dollars a barrel and the big companies were turning a fair profit, but its been record earnings forever, yet no one really says a thing about that, its always about the barrel.
- zanestone, on 02/01/2008, -8/+36no, I just choose to look at the #'s in context.
- n8r0n, on 02/01/2008, -3/+29rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees rupees
- StatiK69, on 02/01/2008, -2/+25badger badger badger badger badger badger badger mushroom mushroom badger badger
- allywilson, on 02/01/2008, -4/+24£££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
- WestonP, on 02/01/2008, -6/+26The reason that the United States is the biggest consumer of oil in the world is because we choose to be. We bitch and moan about high oil prices, but we don't do anything about it. E85 is a start, but it's not even close to being new technology, and it's really more about politics and marketing than anything. Same goes for hybrid vehicles. We had 50+ MPG 100% gasoline cars 20 years ago... the Honda CRX HF is one example. There's no good reason that we can't have 50+ MPG cars today.
Other countries have put together a good public transportation system and boosted efficiency, and their people choose sensible vehicles when it comes private transportation... they don't drive Hummers or other obnoxiously large vehicles. There's absolutely no reason that we couldn't do the same if we really wanted to. Look at Denmark... they kicked their foreign oil habit completely, and they're very prosperous, with what some studies consider the highest quality of life in the world. - Rikkochet, on 02/01/2008, -6/+25Yeah, screw them.
[checks portfolio]
Nevermind, they're ok.
You guys *DO* realize that "oil companies" are public entities and their "evil profits" are really being distributed to all the shareholders, right? Anyone with a minor investment portfolio IS benefiting from this. It's about as American as it gets. - Chirp08, on 02/01/2008, -4/+22we were behind 6% at my company, if we can make 6% next year that would be ***** amazing, 7.8% is right on par with what they can realistically expect to be making. There is nothing out of the ordinary here folks, people digging down obviously still have part time jobs and have never seen real business numbers.
- inactive, on 02/01/2008, -28/+45I'm sure they donate lots of money to charity and the homeless and invest in the economy all for the "greater good". Oil companies are generally doing well, record high profits.. it tells you a lot about what is happening in the world with respect to 'what we're told' vs. reality. Greed is now driving the wheel of the American Ferrari, it won't be long before she crashes.
- david76, on 02/01/2008, -4/+21It's so obvious you have NO idea how things work in the commodities market. The prices these companies charge is NOT set by the company. It's set by TRADERS on the open market. It's all about supply and demand. Unfortunately, the cheap supply has run out, and the intensity of demand has increased. Records profits are all about how expensive a commodity is. Back when oil was $10/barrel they weren't turning as large of a profit.
- medieval, on 02/01/2008, -3/+18Corporations are accountable to their shareholders. If you impose some kind of windfall tax they will just fire people and cut costs in order to make up the difference. That would defeat the purpose of such a windfall tax. Yeah, a government treasury has more money, but then thousands of people are suddenly out of a job.
- bigjimslade, on 02/01/2008, -5/+20Want a share of the cash? Easy. Buy stock. You, too, can join the supposed Rockefellers and Gettys in their "big oil" club. It's amazing how many shares of "big oil" is owned by public employee pension funds...
- blakyce, on 02/01/2008, -14/+28That totally explains why here in Canada and throughout the EU our economies are outperforming the US economy. It is our vastly larger social systems dragging us down. Just keep on drinking that right wing and corporate kool-aid.
- dunderballer, on 02/01/2008, -2/+16Psh. Exxon posted $11.7 billion profit for the last quarter. Yes that is just for the past quarter which brought the company into the record books for posting the highest quarterly and annual profit in US history.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/exx ... - zakatov, on 02/01/2008, -1/+14developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers.... breathes heavily
- theNazz, on 02/01/2008, -14/+27Exxon-Mobile, Shell... once again, they are all posting record net profits. I would really appreciate Dick Cheney turning over that Energy Task Force report that Judge Scalia (the scumbag) is helping him hide.
- Logicexe, on 02/01/2008, -8/+20It's just amazing how so many Americans are willing to ignore the rest of the world. Fiat currency, Medicare, welfare, and other public institutions are doing just fine in many other countries. None are perfect, but the systems still work well. Social programs slowly improve over time and economies continue to grow, except apparently in America.
For some reason many Americans honestly believe that this will never work in America. Do you guys just believe that your government is incompetent? Vote in a new one morons! That's what democracy is for. - rabidgnat, on 02/01/2008, -9/+21Everyone likes capitalism until someone succeeds.
- YanMan, on 02/01/2008, -1/+13As much as they can assuming they are in a competitive market and compete fairly. It's called capitalism.
- govsucks, on 02/01/2008, -4/+16Man, this is Digg, you could be clicking all ***** day.
- iranewb, on 02/01/2008, -0/+12Actually your math is off a bit. The article states it as $75 million per day, which would be about $3 million per HOUR....
Still a tiddy sum! - inactive, on 02/01/2008, -1/+12Given the positive diggs that you and the OP have, I am glad that at least a few people are thinking this through.
Oil companies arnt saints, but they arnt the devil either. Their profit margin is well below most industries. They made a record profit because they sold a record amount of gas (again, just like last year was a record). Guess what, they are gonna do it again next year to, until we do reach peak oil. demand continues to go up, what do you expect to happen? - greaseddeafguy, on 02/01/2008, -0/+11take a look at how small their margins are
- Zephik, on 02/01/2008, -1/+12They'll have another record next year too.
- TomK88, on 02/01/2008, -3/+13What do you propose as the solution?
- inactive, on 02/01/2008, -5/+15Then don't buy gas, chief.
- chalkboy, on 02/01/2008, -0/+9We know. We also know most of that is taxes.
- dave6, on 02/01/2008, -0/+9nice, you even got the currency conversion correct since £ = $$
- bugsy187, on 02/01/2008, -4/+12Geekchic and the people who dugg him up are apparently ignoring the elephant in the room. Prices at the pump are extremely high and so are profits. The profits are at record levels. $27.5 Billion is $27.5 Billion. If there's a SHORTAGE in supply, market DEMAND compensates through higher price. Profits remain the same because SUPPLY and DEMAND equalize one another. So, prices are high these days. Has anyone here had trouble filling up their car? Has anyone here seen a shortage? Exxon has been essentially debt free since 2005 at least. Within the few past years, combined profits of oil companies have been the highest earnings outside of government, ever. They have so much money they don't know what to do with it. Geekchic mentions Shell profits from within the UK and the proportional amount of profit taxable. What does that have to do with their total company profits for 2007 and alleged price gouging? If an individual in the USA makes profit overseas, he's required to report it and be taxed. Corporations, in theory, pay taxes, but a company like GM has the loopholes to get off tax free. It doesn't matter that they have an economy roughly the size of Montana's. Why shouldn't they pay their share? Why is it necessary to effectively subsidize every major corporation? Why do people on this forum see an enormous figure for ONE oil company's annual profit and can only argue about trivial percentage points?
It's unfortunate that intelligent people in the public continue to argue against their own class interest. - govsucks, on 02/01/2008, -1/+9Have you checked the price of a gallon of inkjet ink or milk?
- JigoroKano, on 02/01/2008, -0/+8Crank physics scam looking for naive investors.
Looking at their papers section, they give a reference to Wheeler talking about the energy density of vacuum fluctuation of space time, i.e. quantum gravity stuff. They might as well claim they have invented the warp drive or dilithium crystals. - Chahrlie5, on 02/01/2008, -7/+15Windfall tax is ***** retarded.
Whatever the government does with that tax is going to be even worse. - piradians, on 02/01/2008, -1/+9Snake!
- Aidenf77, on 02/01/2008, -3/+10The one solace I can take in this is that their greed will soon make it necessary to find alternatives to using the oil they profit from. As the expression goes, necessity is the mother of all invention.
- DreKor, on 02/01/2008, -0/+7A nice $600 slap and a courteous, "shut up, bitch" from the government.
- inactive, on 02/01/2008, -9/+16I don't see why people complain about shell and the eviroment; look at all the green they are making. Amazing!
- radink360, on 02/01/2008, -6/+13I love the lines these companies throw out, "we are selling gas at the lowest price that we are allowed"
*****. - djm5586, on 02/01/2008, -3/+10They do and they hate you
- stanleyford, on 02/01/2008, -1/+8How dare you judge a policy by its consequences rather than its intent!
- 15charmaxwtf, on 02/01/2008, -11/+18At least Shell actually do something productive, unlike Union leaders who just blow hot air.
- Mothrog, on 02/01/2008, -0/+7"And this, my friends, is why ALL the new technologies in the last 100 years that could have ended big oil for ever, were covered up or their inventors threatened, killed etc."
*head desk*
And what technologies were these? The mystical 300 mpg carburetor? - thebaron2, on 02/01/2008, -2/+8Either that or they'd take their oil elsewhere where they won't be penalized for providing it.
With China and India's oil demands growing so rapidly, I don't think a lot of these companies would have a problem shifting more of their supply to countries that don't put a ceiling on their profits. Regardless, a 7-8% profit margin isn't unheard of or out of control. - pintomp3, on 02/01/2008, -1/+7how about if the average person is paying for wars that benefit your company? america is neither social nor capitalist, it is corporatist. they privatize the profits and gains, and socialize the costs and risk.
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