HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company _ $40.6 billion _ as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at year’s end.
Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.
The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil made in 2006.
The eye-popping results weren’t a surprise given record prices for a barrel of oil at the end of 2007. For much of the fourth quarter, they hovered around $90 a barrel, more than 50 percent higher than a year ago.
Crude prices reached an all-time trading high of $100.09 on Jan. 3 but have fallen about 10 percent since.
The record profit for the October-December period amounted to $2.13 a share versus $1.76 a share in 2006. Year-ago net income was $10.25 billion.
Also extraordinary was Exxon Mobil’s revenue, which rose 30 percent in the fourth quarter to $116.6 billion from $90 billion a year ago.
For the year, sales rose to $404.5 billion _ the most ever for the Irving, Texas-based company _ from the $377.64 billion it posted in 2006.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/01/exxon-mobil-posts-record-_n_84463.html
Update: 4/1/08
“Why is Exxon Mobil resisting the renewable revolution,” asked Markey.
Simon said that current alternative energy technologies “just do not have an appreciable impact” in addressing “the challenge we’re trying to meet.”
With motorists paying a national average of $3.29 a gallon at the pump and global oil prices remaining above $100 a barrel, the executives were hard pressed by lawmakers to defend their profits— $123 billion last year.
