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ExxonMobil profits gush above 10 bln dlrs
AFP
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 10 27 06
The world's largest company, ExxonMobil Corp., announced record third-quarter profits of 10.49 billion dollars Thursday on the back of red-hot oil prices.
The Texas energy giant's latest income was the second-highest ever booked by a public US company. It already holds the record for the highest quarterly profits, of 10.71 billion dollars in the last quarter of 2005.
ExxonMobil's shares rose, but the political heat on the company mounted as top Democratic lawmakers including Senator Hillary Clinton accused it of squeezing consumers and demanded an end to industry tax breaks.
The company's most recent earnings for the three months through September easily smashed most forecasts drawn up by Wall Street analysts.
ExxonMobil said its net profits for the third quarter spiked 26 percent from 8.30 billion in the same period of 2005.
The company announced earnings per share of 1.77 dollars for the quarter, up from 1.32 dollars a year ago, well above most Wall Street predictions of 1.58 dollars.
"Higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, and improved marketing and chemical margins, were partly offset by lower refining margins," ExxonMobil chairman Rex Tillerson said.
Revenues, however, moderated to 99.6 billion dollars from 100.7 billion a year ago.
ExxonMobil's profits amounted to a staggering 114 million dollars a day for the quarter, largely as oil prices gushed to record heights.
Global prices of "black gold" soared above 78 dollars in July and August, although they have fallen sharply in recent weeks to around 61 dollars per barrel.
ExxonMobil said that excluding special items, its upstream earnings from energy production rose 764 million dollars to 6.49 billion dollars as it ramped up its output during the quarter.
Stronger worldwide marketing margins from ExxonMobil's downstream product sales helped offset weaker refining margins.
Downstream earnings, which include gasoline station sales, rose 610 million dollars to 2.74 billion even though the company sold slightly less gasoline during the quarter.
The company also completed an 8.4-billion-dollar share buyback program during the quarter.
Investors cheered ExxonMobil's latest earnings to mark its shares up 61 cents to 71.62 dollars at the close.
Its net profits for the first nine months of the year totalled 29.25 billion dollars, up 24 percent compared with the same period of 2005.
But in the run-up to November 7 elections for Congress, ExxonMobil's vast profits sparked harsh criticism from Democratic lawmakers.
"Instead of continuing to line the pockets of big oil, we should move towards energy policies and technologies that can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create jobs," Clinton said in a statement.
Oil executives have chafed at political criticism of the industry's gargantuan profits in congressional hearings and argued that their profit margins are lower than other industries.
ExxonMobil's third-quarter income dwarfed the latest quarterly earnings of British energy group BP (6.975 billion dollars) and US banking titan Citigroup (5.5 billion). It made Google's earnings of 773 million dollars look like pocket change.
ExxonMobil straddles the globe with ownership interests in 45 refineries in 25 countries. It is the world's biggest company in terms of market capitalization, ahead of US conglomerate General Electric.
Every day motorists around the world top up their vehicles at some 40,000 Exxon, Mobil or Esso branded gasoline stations, including about 14,000 stations located across the United States, according to the company.
AFP 26 2138 GMT 10 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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