In late October a website called exxonmobilperspectives.com put together an article titled: "10 little known – or often ignored – facts about gas prices and ExxonMobil’s earnings".
I have some concerns that this site might be biased towards big oil and in particular Exxon Mobil but assuming that simply because the article is paid for an written by a the company that it defends doesn't mean the information it contains is inaccurate.
There are 5 "facts" out of the 10 that while probably factually accurate are a bit misleading.
Often ignored fact: ExxonMobil makes pennies per gallon on gasoline, diesel and petroleum products it refines and sells in the United States
According to this source Exxon Mobil only makes $0.07 to $0.08 of profit per gallon of gasoline sold. The thing they don't tell you is that there are 42 gallons of oil per barrel and Exxon Mobil, as the article points out, refines 5 million barrels a day. This means their profit is $14.7 million dollars per day on their oil refining alone. Just because using one unit of measure makes the profit seem small doesn't mean it really is. Imagine if Target said "sure we make $5 per shirt we sell but we only make $0.01 per stitch on the average shirt". How can they make any money at only $0.01 per stitch?
Little known fact: The oil and gas industry’s overall earnings per dollar of sales are significantly less than many other industries.
In the explanation of this issue the author reports that the oil industry only makes $0.095 per dollar spent which is well below the numbers by some other industries. It also happens to be twice as much as industries like iron, steel, food and paper and still significantly higher than industries like furniture, plastics, rubber , and motor vehicles. I'm not sure that the profit margin for the product that makes the motor vehicles go should be higher than the margin for the motor vehicle it self. Usually the commodities profit margin is less then that of finished goods.
Little known fact: ExxonMobil regularly invests more on energy projects in the U.S. than it earns in the U.S.
The author states this fact like Exxon Mobil's investments are not done for the benefit of the company but for America. After all if Exxon Mobil didn't stand up for the little guys with exploration for new oil sources, who would?
Often ignored fact: ExxonMobil’s U.S. tax bill is often greater than its U.S. operating earnings.
To make this little factoid work Exxon Mobil includes Federal and State gas taxes which consumers pay not Exxon Mobil. They also include payroll taxes that they pay for their employees. It is disingenuous to suggest they have a high tax burden and then include taxes that are paid for by other sources through Exxon Mobil.
Often ignored fact: The people who benefit from “Big Oil’s” earnings are hardworking Americans, from teachers to police officers to public sector workers.
Considering the fact that nearly 82% of all stocks, bonds and mutual funds are owned by the top 10%, I think it is a stretch to suggest some significant portion of Exxon Mobil's stocks are held by people in that other 90%.
I would actually respect Exxon Mobil more if they just said "this is our business model and it is successful", because unlike the rhetoric would have you believe, I and most liberals I know, don't want to "bring down" Exxon Mobil or eliminate their profit.
I do however take issue with the $85 million they spend on lobbyists over the last four years to alter legislation in their favor. I dislike that the CEO makes 247 times that of the average Exxon Mobil employee. I resent the $3 billion in subsidies given to the Oil industry from the Federal government. I wish they weren't on CNN list of companies exporting American jobs. These are all things that have an effect on me as a tax paying gasoline consumer and they make up some of the little known facts that known facts that Exxon Mobil won't be posting about anytime soon.
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