Oil and Gas Hearings

[FromTexas]

Last I read, they'd made a mesely 10 billion on 100 million in sales.

Now, Terp says it's a $25 bil profit.

And then Tox says it's $30 billion!

All these guys gotta do is get out of bed and, viola! GOLD!

They are refering to the total oil companies (worldwide .. because that includes BP) profits for the quarter. On one of the most utilized resources in the world at that.

 

[Larry Gude]

Tox...

I didn't say they were price gouging - I merely expressed my views on what should happen to price-gougers.


Now as much as I love the oil comanies, and as much as I love giving them as much money as I possibly can just to get to work, it seems the expenses you mentoined were passed on to the consumer, whereas these record-shattering profits were not.


If expenses AND profits skyrocketed, why don't they cancel each other out, and I still pay $1.45 a gallon?

We've been down this road! Why is this so hard to understand and accept?

If oil was $30 a barrel in quarter X and they had $50 billion in sales and made 10% profit on it, that's $5 billion. Is 10% OK? Or should we mandate what they can make?

Now, if in quarter Y they do double the gross sales dollars BECAUSE their cost of goods DOUBLED to $60 a barrel, that means they did $100 billion in gross sales and IF they made the SAME 10% profit, then, they made $10 billion.

The $100 bill and hence the $10 bil profit made news because they were new records. The percentage of net profit, 10%, is NOT a new record nor close nor even remotely noteworthy.

In the mean time, in reality, they did NOT make a 10% net profit in quarter X when oil was $30. They were making more like 5%. So, along comes quarter Y with multiple hurricanes which disrupted the normal flow of refined gas from oil already at record highs, at record highs because global output was reaching maximums due to China, a good US economy and other factors.

So, speculators guess that restriced supply will mean increases price pressure as demand did not slow a bit. In that very fact when there is suddenly less refined gas to go around, it's value goes up.

Given all that happened, a surge, a SHORT TERM surge to 10% net profits is a rather small and normal thing. They made record sales and record net profit in total dollars, NOT in percentage.

So now, refining is getting back to normal, the barrel is settling at right around $60 and even a buck or two under, supply and demand are finding each otehr again, with wholesale gas sinking under $1.50 a gallon. I saw $1.97 yesterday.

You people are regressives at heart; You think that a man making $10,000 a year should pay 10% in taxes but a man making $100,000 should NOT pay $10,000, he should pay MORE because he can afford it.

Thus Exxon can make 10% up to one gross dollar amount but they should make less % at a higher income level...because they can 'afford' it.

You people are RUINING the image of this site as hard core right wing nuts.

 

[Larry Gude]

Oh, I get it...

They are refering to the total oil companies (worldwide .. because that includes BP) profits for the quarter. On one of the most utilized resources in the world at that.

...not only do we want out efficient federal government managing domestic oil companies finances, but now we want our Senators telling ALL companies, foriegn as well as domestic, how to keep shop.

I see.

 

[Larry Gude]

Egahds!!!

Awful funny how prices sure did fall significantly when the hearings began. Where'd all that money they supposedly needed go?

That's the same as saying "awful funny how the hurricanes stopped and the refineries got back up to speed when the hearings began."

Turn off the weather machine, Bob! Sen. Attention Deficit Disorder is calling us to task!

 

[FromTexas]

...not only do we want out efficient federal government managing domestic oil companies finances, but now we want our Senators telling ALL companies, foriegn as well as domestic, how to keep shop.

I see.

To be fair, I think it only includes BP which does a lot of business in the U.S. Yet, out of even XOM, Chevron, and Shell, very little business of theirs is actually performed in the U.S.

 

[Larry Gude]

To be fair...

To be fair

...interesting three words...

To be...fair.

 

[Oz]

Why not write to congress and work on lowering the taxes on gas? That is where all the real fat in gas prices is.

These are the most hypocritical hearings in recent memory. Government taxes petroleum products at a far greater rate than the modest profit shown by oil companies. I'm not trying to defend oil companies. I really believe that they should invest those profits to take advantage of the relaxation of federal regulations and add refining capacity to the United States. But this dog and pony show that Congress is putting on is a bigger waste of time than the steroid hearings...

 

[Larry Gude]

I tried telling that story...

These are the most hypocritical hearings in recent memory. Government taxes petroleum products at a far greater rate than the modest profit shown by oil companies. I'm not trying to defend oil companies. I really believe that they should invest those profits to take advantage of the relaxation of federal regulations and add refining capacity to the United States. But this dog and pony show that Congress is putting on is a bigger waste of time than the steroid hearings...

...awhile back; Gummint takes MORE out of a gallon than either the store makes or the supplier.

 

[Oz]

...awhile back; Gummint takes MORE out of a gallon than either the store makes or the supplier.

In Maryland, where you have a Wawa or Sheetz, those guys sell gas at cost. So you can pretty much figure out what their competitors are making per gallon. It ain't much, and not even close the the amount of tax per gallon.

Congress should be asking all of these State legislative bodies why they are taxing each gallon so heavily...