Is it me or are these oil company's taking the proverbial out of us ?

Question

Bp have announced a £6.25 bn profit in the last 6 months

Shell have announced a £8bn profit in the last 6 months this week.

Now these company's claim they are struggling with the high price of oil which is why we pay so much at the pumps. Now call me crazy, but looking at these figures, they don't indicate an industry struggling .

So just what do you think is the reason why we are paying so much at the pumps and are these company's causing this recession we are in by their greed and nothing else ?

Answer 1

Like any other company, BP is in business to make money for its shareholders. Their prices fluctuate with supply and demand, and if they make big profits (which they need for future exploration/ extraction), the government take a huge slice in taxation from which we all benefit. Petrol or diesel is not the source of the large profits.

Answer 2

It is you and your Daily Mail ignorance.

Answer 3

I agree with David H, yes these are huge profits, however if the government did not put such a high tax on it, the profit BP make would never be mentioned. However why does the government put a huge tax on it, because they pay out so much in unnecessary benefits, they have to get the money from somewhere.

Answer 4

Its Capitalism - they are in business to make lots of money! end of. They are not a charity.

Of course they are taking the p**s, they have the upper hand!

One day it might be fresh water!!!

Answer 5

it is supply and demand,  when the supply of oil is lower then demand the prices will go up.  I do agree the oil company's are making way too much profit, but they are in the biz of making money, just like any store in your town.  If they didn't make any money they would have to shut down.

Answer 6

Peak Oil is a term which has caused much confusion. If you simply based our consumption rate of oil on what is in the ground, we'd have enough oil for the next 500 years. However, not all of the oil is in fact recoverable (although the percentage is going up with improved drilling techniques, such as horizontal drilling). There is a limitation on how fast we can get oil out of the ground for two reasons. One, if you were to pump out oil too fast early on in a well's life, it will reduce the pressure that forced the oil to come out of the ground in the first place

Answer 7

Firstly nobody is in a recession.  Economic downturn, but not a recession.  Shell and BP are massive companies with holdings and interests all over the world, 10's of thousands of employees and shareholders.  Of course they are going to make a profit.  BP service stations sell their fuel at a profit, 1p/ltr. Supermarkets sell their fuel at a loss...to get people into their supermarket, where they make huge profits off the backs of poor 3rd world farmers.  These companies also hav huge tax bills to pay out, and the average offshore rig costs about 1 million/day, thats not even including support services.  On shore rigs are considerably cheaper but the cost of those is rising fast as well.  The cost of an average well has increased by 6 times in the past ten years.  Everybody struggles with the high oil prices, to put it simply, It takes oil to drill for oil.  Every company, whether it's BP or Bobs shoe market has what is called a "profit margin" that they must maintain to make it feasable and to attract investment.  Now you want to talk about sick money, the oil company I work for (which is a state owned oil company) pulls in about 16 billion dollars a DAY.  Do the yearly profits on that.  Compared to some state owned oil companies BP and Shell are minnows.

Answer 8

they sure are.

Answer 9

Without meaning to be rude.   Its you and your headline watching ignorance.   If you read below the headlines, you would see that the government have taken a giant slice of these profits in taxation.    Also BP are having big problems with their Russian venture, it looks as if the Russian Government/Mafia is going to rob them of a quarter of their oil production soon.   Oil is becoming harder and harder to extract now that the easier sources are running out, so they need these large profits to further investment into getting the more difficult deposits out.   BP are an international company, and the largest company listed on the London stock exchange so would`nt you expect them to make the biggest profit?   Profit should`nt be a dirty word.   Its the reason they are doing it, if they are`nt going to be allowed to make a profit, they might as well give up.

Answer 10

oh h**l yes