Gas profits?

Question

ive heard in classes that the big oil companies only make a 9 cent profit per gallon of gas sold. and ive heard that this is the same profit margin that they had back in the day when gas was cheap. is this true? need a source.

since its summer, i cant ahold of any teachers.

Answer 1

My estimates were higher at around 30 cents a gallon, but that's really mute.  The major US oil companies made $12 billion a month for the first 3 months of the year.  

Gas companies profits have been reduced by increased marketing campaigns that talk about the incredible amount of oil reserves that would increase supply in the US, if they were allowed to drill in area's their not now, increased government lobbying to revoke environmental restrictions on drilling, increased compensation to executives, and increased shareholder dividends for the oil stock bubble.

I couldn't find one page with alot of info, but PB's site shows that from '06 to '07 the first quarter revenue rose by 44% while their pretax earnings increased by 69%...  So their profits rose by 25% in that year despite the above added costs.

Answer 2

The "big oil companies" do not make as large a profit off the price of a gallon of gas as the government does. Part of the problem is "big government".

http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/gas.pric...

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financial...