Search

Subscribe   Contact   

Twitter       Facebook  

About         Archives

HEADLINES

BLACK MEDIA

 

LATEST BW ENTRIES

Login
Powered by Squarespace


Support BW!

Racist Suspect Watch


free your mind!

Cress Welsing: The Definition of Racism White Supremacy

Dr. Blynd: The Definition of Racism

Anon: What is Racism/White Supremacy?

Dr. Bobby Wright: The Psychopathic Racial Personality

The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (White Supremacy)

What is the First Step in Counter Racism?

Genocide: a system of white survival

The Creation of the Negro

The Mysteries of Melanin

'Racism is a behavioral system for survival'

Fear of annihilation drives white racism

Dr. Blynd: The Definition of Caucasian

Where are all the Black Jurors? 

The War Against Black Males: Black on Black Violence Caused by White Supremacy/Racism

Brazen Police Officers and the Forfeiture of Freedom

White Domination, Black Criminality

Fear of a Colored Planet Fuels Racism: Global White Population Shrinking, Less than 10%

Race is Not Real but Racism is

The True Size of Africa

What is a Nigger? 

MLK and Imaginary Freedom: Chains, Plantations, Segregation, No Longer Necessary ['Our Condition is Getting Worse']

Chomsky on "Reserving the Right to Bomb Niggers." 

A Goal of the Media is to Make White Dominance and Control Over Everything Seem Natural

"TV is reversing the evolution of the human brain." Propaganda: How You Are Being Mind Controlled And Don't Know It.

Spike Lee's Mike Tyson and Don King

"Zapsters" - Keeping what real? "Non-white People are Actors. The Most Unrealistic People on the Planet"

Black Power in a White Supremacy System

Neely Fuller Jr.: "If you don't understand racism/white supremacy, everything else that you think you understand will only confuse you"

The Image and the Christian Concept of God as a White Man

'In order for this system to work, We have to feel most free and independent when we are most enslaved, in fact we have to take our enslavement as the ultimate sign of freedom'

Why do White Americans need to criminalize significant segments of the African American population?

Who Told You that you were Black or Latino or Hispanic or Asian? White People Did

Malcolm X: "We Have a Common Enemy"

Links

Deeper than Atlantis
« Alleged 'Terrorist Mastermind' Bin Laden Dead: U.S. Vows Wars Will Continue | Main | War Pimps General Electric sees best profit outlook in a decade »
Friday
Apr292011

War Pimps Exxon and Shell Profits Surge on higher oil prices 

Exxon Mobil reaches milestone in Iraq [MORE

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported significantly bigger first-quarter profits and beat analysts' forecasts, helped by high oil prices and strong refining margins.

Profits for the world's biggest oil producers have surged as oil prices moved above $100 per barrel in the first quarter on unrest in the Middle East and Africa and growing global demand for energy.

Those profits come as U.S. oil companies face growing criticism for tax breaks they receive for pumping oil, even as the retail gasoline prices continue to spiral higher, reaching an average of $3.886 per gallon, up 35 percent a year ago, according to travel group AAA.

Exxon, the world's most valuable publicly listed company, posted a 69 percent increase in earnings to $10.65 billion, its biggest profit since the third-quarter of 2008, when oil prices last traded above $100 per barrel.

Alone among its Western peers, Exxon recorded an increase in production in the quarter, notching a 10 percent rise from a year-earlier to 4.82 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), helped by its takeover of U.S. natural gas company XTO last year.

Shell's earnings rose 22 percent to $6.9 billion, although asset sales pressured its oil and gas output down 3 percent to 3.50 million boepd.

Still, that decline was more modest than the 11 percent drop that BP Plc reported on Wednesday and 7 percent drop in ConocoPhillips's output.

BP has been selling assets to pay the more than $40 billion in liabilities it racked up from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, while Conoco had been shedding assets to pare its debt load.

GASOLINE HEATS UP

Fatter profit margins at Exxon and Shell refineries that process crude oil into gasoline, diesel fuel and other products also helped their quarterly earnings, but Exxon mounted a robust defense aimed at distancing itself and the industry from rising gasoline prices.

A company executive pinned the blame for high crude prices on a weak U.S. dollar, unrest in the Middle East and growing demand from countries like Brazil and China.

"During the first three months of this year, for every gallon of gasoline and other products we refined and sold in the United States, we earned about 7 cents," Exxon executive Ken Cohen told reporters on a conference call.

"Compare that to the 40 to 60 cents per cents per gallon that went from gasoline consumers to the government (state and federal) in gasoline taxes," he said.

LNG BUBBLES UP

Shell, the largest shipper of liquefied natural gas, also benefited from higher LNG prices following the Japanese earthquake, which was expected to lead to higher LNG demand in that country as nuclear power is scaled back.

That LNG strength, plus a number of large projects coming on stream this year, sparked hopes that Shell could join Exxon and Chevron in raising its dividend payments to shareholders.

Exxon raised its second-quarter payout 7 percent on Wednesday, while Chevron boosted its dividend 8 percent.

Chevron is due to release its quarterly earnings on Friday.

Exxon also benefited from a jump in earnings from its chemicals arm, which recorded $1.5 billion in profits in the quarter. The company is the second-largest U.S. chemicals maker behind Dow Chemical.

"It looks like chemical was really strong," Phil Weiss, oil analyst at Argus Research, said about Exxon's earnings. "And production came in on the higher side relative to my expectations, especially gas."

Shares of Shell rose 0.7 percent to 2325.5 pence on the London Stock Exchange, while Exxon shares were off 0.5 percent at $87.35 on the New York Stock Exchange.

U.S. oil and gas companies Apache Corp [ID:nN28171934] and Occidental Petroleum Corp [ID:nN28163343] also reported earnings that topped Wall Street forecasts, lifting their share prices.

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.