Storms, Windfalls and Price Surges
Riding high on the misery of others.
Exxon Mobil Corp. rewrote the corporate record books Thursday as the oil company's third-quarter earnings soared to almost $10 billion and it became the first public company ever with quarterly sales topping $100 billion. Anglo-Dutch competitor Royal Dutch Shell PLC wasn't far behind, posting a profit of $9 billion for the quarter.
To put its performance into perspective, Exxon's revenue for the three-month period was greater than the annual gross domestic product of some of the largest oil-producing nations, including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait -- even though it lost considerable production because of a string of hurricanes that battered the U.S. Gulf coast.
At Shell, third-quarter net income grew 68 percent to $9.03 billion from $5.37 billion a year earlier. Revenue at the London-based company, which has extensive operations in the United States, rose 8 percent to $76.44 billion.
Shells profits from exploration and production increased by $2.6 billion to $5 billion in spite of an 11 percent decline in oil and natural-gas output. Its refining and marketing profit climbed by $201 million to $1.7 billion. Its chemicals business saw profits decline by $251 million to $321 million.
Also on Thursday, Marathon said third-quarter profit more than tripled to $770 million, up from $222 million a year earlier. Most of the profit came from its oil and natural-gas production unit.