Investors
Exxon’s 2007 tax bill was more than the bottom 50% of American taxpayers
Corporate profits receive a lot of media attention, but what receives considerably less attention are the corporate taxes paid on corporate profits. Do a Google search for “Exxon profits” and you’ll get about 8,000 hits. Now try “Exxon taxes” and you’ll get a little more than 300 hits. That’s a ratio of about 33 to [...]
Don’t be taken in by the oil giants and their billions
Bloated with profits and rolling in cash, but it isn’t nearly enough. Oil companies confound our senses with big numbers - BP earned $17 billion (£8.6 billion) last year, a meagre performance compared with Shell’s $28 billion, revealed last week. The European twins are hopelessly outclassed by ExxonMobil. The American ended the year with $40 [...]
Oil falls sharply as stocks rise more than expected, recession worries remain
Oil fell sharply as worries over a looming US recession will crimp demand combined with improved supply side news in the form of better-than-forecast increases in US energy inventories.
The US Energy Information Administration said earlier US crude stocks rose by 7 mln barrels last week to total 300 mln barrels. Analysts were expecting stocks to [...]
Iraq Cancels Oil Deal With Austria OMV
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq has halted oil exports to Austria’s OMV, the leading oil and gas group in central Europe, to protest a deal with the self-ruled Kurdish region, a government official said Saturday.
The company joins South Korea’s SK Energy in being cut off because of deals with the Kurds that are not sanctioned by [...]
Oil Falls on Economy Concerns; OPEC May Maintain Output
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil fell for a second day in New York on concern that a recession in the U.S. may curb fuel demand in the world’s biggest energy-consuming nation and prompt OPEC to maintain production targets.
Oil fell 1.2 percent, extending yesterday’s 3 percent decline, after a report showed the number of Americans [...]
Shell’s Profit Soars as High Oil Prices Offset Production Decline
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, reported Thursday that fourth-quarter profit rose 60 percent because of the sale of some assets and higher oil prices.
Net income was $8.47 billion, up from $5.28 billion in the period a year ago.
Sales rose to $107 billion from $75.5 billion despite a fall in oil [...]
Marathon Oil 4Q Net Down 38%, Revenue Up 31%
Marathon Oil Corp.’s net income dropped 38% in a “difficult” fourth quarter marked by record crude-oil prices and delays in a key North Sea project, the company said Thursday.
Profit for Houston-based Marathon declined to $668 million, or 94 cents a share, from $1.08 billion, or $1.53 a share, earned in the final three months of [...]
Oil Prices Gyrate After Fed Rate Cut
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil futures fluctuated Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate less than many investors had hoped, and the government reported larger than expected increases in crude oil and gasoline inventories last week.
Many investors had anticipated the half percentage point rate cut and were hoping for more, analysts said.
“A [...]
Canada’s Suncor plans C$20 bln oil sands expansion
Suncor Energy, Inc. said on Wednesday it will spend C$20.6 billion ($20.8 billion) on an expansion scheme that will make it the biggest producer in the oil sands of northern Alberta.
Suncor’s board of directors gave the go-ahead for the Voyageur project, a 200,000 barrel-a-day expansion of the company’s already massive oil sands operations near Fort [...]
OPEC policies will ensure oil price volatility
Oil prices in 2008 could fluctuate widely as in 2007 when Brent traded between $50 and $100.
Opec officials meeting this week in Vienna blame speculators for most of this volatility. But growing price volatility stems directly from Opec’s increased importance in balancing markets. Speculative flows accentuate price movements, but the producer group is their prime [...]
