Oil Profits - Edumacate me

exxon profits - Google Search

Is it time that we nationalize oil companies so that they'll not price gouge and drive up the price at the pump to get an outcome that they want?

How can an ethical company function in this manner? Oil companies 2022 record profits amid Ukraine war, energy price hike

 

absolutely not.

I'll give this a stab, but this is just based on the scant numbers quoted in the article. As with most articles of this nature, the lack of data is intentional by the author...but here goes.

Revenue is not the same as Profits.

We'll use Exxon. Quarterly Revenue went from $59B to $90B year-over-year. Rev went up by $31B but profit only went up $2.5B. Roughly the same 10-11% that they had always tried to achieve. So Rev went up by 31B but Profit only 2.5B. Why is that? It is because COSTS went up by 29B. Given the huge anticipated blow to the oil market that is in the offing by freezing out Russia, it seems smart to give yourself a little bit of extra cushion for the future...

Not to mention the idiotic policies of the Dem's that have done everything in their power to forecast and impose a future for oil in the U.S. as a much more expensive commodity.

This article is just the MSM trying to find another entity to vilify for Dem choices and policy.

 

How exactly can you price gouge a commodity sold on an open market? This isn't a local gas station selling $100 per gallon gasoline after a hurricane? Oil companies do not control the price of the commodity they produce. It's called supply and demand. If you want prices to go down then you basically have two levers: 1.) increase supply 2.) reduce demand. It's amazing that most adults in the US do not understand how a market works. Glad we spend so much time in the classrooms on grievance studies instead of focusing on less important topics like supply and demand.

 

Hey now!

 

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So you are a socialist.

 

Another thing price gouging isn't really a thing. The only thing that comes close is monopoly prices. It is where a monopoly restricts supply to increase the sales price.

That is actually part of the problem with oil prices now. The supply is being held lower by the OPEC cartel which is made up of nationalized oil companies. So the "price gouge" comes from nationalized companies not private companies in market competition.

 

The story said "record profits", not revenue.

 

You also explain a scenario where the POTUS doesn't have much impact on oil prices. Hmmm.

You can't have it both ways.

 

So, gas prices are solely based on supply and demand. Got it.

 

I can't say price gouging isn't a thing, because the government pretty routinely price gouges when it tries to run things.

 

But if they were "competitive" wouldn't someone lower their prices to, you know, compete, and only profit the same margin compared to previous periods in an effort to gain market share? That's not how our market is working. Gas/deisel is a product that has a fairly inelastic demand in the near term. They're fat/happy.

 

Not when supply is controlled by a global cartel and the other non-cartel suppliers have had their production curtailed by government intervention. When the cartel decides to increase supply and other supply constraints are removed the price will go down.

 

Why US politicians are trying to break the world's oil cartel now | CNN Business
I'm shocked that the Saudis want the guy who looked the other way as they killed and dismembered an American journalist who had three children who were US citizens.

 

I've already explained this thoroughly in another thread and won't go through it again, but I will simplify.

3% of $50 is less than 3% of $150. Record profits don't mean they are changing anything regarding margins and its not gouging, it's a reflection of the oil market.

 

Ok.

 

Isn't the goal of a business to make as much money as possible? They sell for the highest price people are willing to pay. People buy things for which the price is less than they value the good. Everything else is just political posturing and nonsense.

 

You want to convince us that nationalizing the oil companies is an option while our government has created a shortage of baby formula, tampons and food? Yes, that sounds like a tremendous idea.

 

I take nationalize oil companies to mean shut the down to force everyone on to bikes or EVs.

 

Let's also educate ourselves on the difference between supply/quantity supplied and demand/quantity demanded. Although I suppose sooner could take 20 economics courses and never get it.

 

Read up on baby formula. It’s not a Biden thing.

 

Why would a commodity company sell their commodity for a lower price than the market dictates? Lowering your price does not help you gain market share. Producing more of the commodity is what will help you gain market share. That's exactly what OPEC did to the US producers during the early stages of the pandemic. Remember when WTI price was actually negative for a brief period of time. That was because OPEC had decided to flood the market with oil to gain market share back from the US producers. It worked! Supply outpaced demand so much that there was literally no where to store the oil.

Most of the market manipulation that occurs is by OPEC not by Exxon or the other large Western producers that liberals love to whine about. Generally, the Western producers will produce as much oil as they can once the wells are completed.

 

Nothing is Biden’s fault per Biden. Did he specifically step in on this no. Did his agencies and policy step in, yes. The buck stops at the top.

In November, parents faced with the problem will lay blame where it belongs. On the democrats.

 

It is the Federal bureaucracy's fault. They rule regardless of who is the President. But Biden could be honest about it and blame them. But he is their puppet. They move his mouth. They aren't going to tell on themselves.

 

Biden etc certainly did not react even after they knew there was a problem

Slightly off topic but kinda related to overall picture yet another food processing plant caught fire yesterday. How many is that now?

 

Yeah, PEMEX sure has been great for Mexico, huh ...

 

Pricing Power: OPEC (Saudi Aramco + Gulf States nat'l oil cos. + some others)

No Pricing Power: Exxon/Mobil, Shell, Chevron/Texaco, Phillips 66, Marathon, etc.

 

Are you sure you're from Oklahoma...?

wtf

 

The poster was gone for awhile. Maybe sent to Demx indoctrination camp for new talking points?

 

Check the price of gas in our sister republic to the south where petroleum was socialized in the 30s. The quality sucks but the price is close

as Edward Wilson said. Communism is a great idea but not for our species