The 2007 Fortune 500 list of the most profitable companies has 3 American Oil Companies making the top 10 rung. Exxon Mobil was the most profitable company in the US as it came in no. 1 with an income of $39 B. The 7th spot was occupied by Chevron which had an income of $17.1B followed by ConocoPhillips in the 8th spot which made $15.5 Billion last year.
Its no surprise considering the roller coaster price of oil last year due to a slew of events that drove oil prices up (Nigerian Conflict, Iran Nuclear Plans, Oil price hedging on the threat of a bad hurricane season. etc)
The question here is, can you blame Oil companies for their record profits? A company is in business to make money, where is the fault in that? The fault is when you are in a cartel and intentionally cut oil production to maintain the price. Still, is it really because you want to maintain the price? or hide the fact that you as an oil exporting country are running out of oil?
The reality that Oil is a scarce resource that has a very volatile price history is a given. Volatile because the area where it is harvested from has a long history of conflict (be it natural or man-made) that affect the accessibility of it which in turn drive up its price.
And yes it sickens me to see that Oil companies are raking in huge profits, but I feel that they alone are not to blame Market speculators are at fault for driving prices up but us consumers are also to blame with our every increasing thirst for energy to power our airconditioners, SUV’s and iPods. Get rid of the demand and you will see prices come tumbling down. Or at least invest in other renewable sources of energy that could help deflect the cost of fossil fuels. But hey, that’s what this blog has been about in the first place *snicker*
Update: Updated 2008 list shows that Oil Companies still continue to rake in the profits.
