Oil giant Exxon Mobil made a profit of $11.68bn between April and June, breaking its own record for the highest quarterly profit by a US company.
The 14% rise in profit was thanks to the surge in crude oil prices, which were almost double the price they were in the same period a year earlier.
But profits disappointed investors, who sent Exxon’s share price down 3%.
Profit growth was dented by declines in production, reduced demand for petrol and lower margins on refining.
Sales of petrol and related products fell from the year before because of lower demand, the firm said.
Production disruption
Crude production declined 8% in the quarter, partly due to disruption in Venezuela and Nigeria.
“They are spending $25bn a year on exploration4, and they are not even breaking even now in terms of production growth,” said Gene Pisasale of PNC Capital Advisors.
During the quarter, Exxon also took a charge of $290m related to a penalty imposed on the firm for its role in Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster.
Last month, the US Supreme Court ruled that the $2.5bn (£1.25bn) fine initially imposed would be cut to $500m.
Exxon Mobil won the right to appeal against the damages bill for the 1989 Alaskan oil spill after arguing the initial penalty was excessive.
::Tullycast:: 
This past quarter, ExxonMobil made what some deem a fat profit [actually not so fat – that’s about 8.5 cents per dollar of sales], but the company also had a fat tax bill. On a worldwide basis, ExxonMobil paid over $10 billion in corporate income taxes in the second quarter alone, $9.5 billion in sales taxes, and over $12 billion in other taxes.
In other words, ExxonMobil paid (or at least collected) $32.361 billion in taxes in the second quarter. Or to look at it another way – Exxon paid (or collected) almost $3 in taxes ($32.361 billion) for every $1 in profits ($11.68 billion).
That means that for every dollar in Exxon sales – not profits, SALES — 23.4 cents is for taxes. And that is averaged over all types of sales – not just gasoline.
For the financially illiterate who wish to verify these figures, here’s a URL for the company’s quarterly earnings statement (if this board allows URL’s — otherwise Google it):
http://tinyurl.com/5rnmyc