----- Original Message -----
From: "Shel Belinkoff"
Subject: Re: Local Gas Prices
Gallons of gas sold is only a part of such a company's profit picture.
Profits are generated from other areas as well, including investments and
refining. Almost 1/4 of their profits came from refining. For example,
when they bought or contracted for crude @ $40.00 per barrel, and the
price
jumped to $60.00 per barrel, they did quite well. However, Exxon/Mobile
did not control the price of crude - they just benefited from it.
According to a report I heard Wednesday or Thursday, the percentage of
profit made by Exxon/Mobile was about 7%, similar to the profit
percentages
of many other businesses. While I'm not being an apologist for the oil
companies, their return on investment and profits - from a percentage
standpoint - doesn't seem excessive. Actually, there are many companies
in
many other fields that generate larger profits in terms of percentage.
Someone was making a simplistic statement about how much money they made, I
was asking a simplistic question about how much product they sold to make
that money. I asked because if you break it down to dollars made vs. gallons
sold you will find that they don't have much margin to lower the price per
gallon, which was intimated by another poster.
Your reply confirms what I was implying.
William Robb
