"Soaring oil prices in 2005 have helped Royal Dutch Shell report a record annual profit for a UK-listed company. The Anglo-Dutch energy giant generated profits of $22.94bn (£13.12bn) - up nearly a third on last year when it set a UK record with profits of $17.59bn." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4672716.stm
"Texaco Profit Up 25% on High Oil Prices Texaco Inc. posted a 25 percent rise in second-quarter profits yesterday, soundly beating Wall Street's expectations. In the three months ended June 30, the company earned $784 million, or $1.44 a share, up from $625 million, or $1.14 a share, a year earlier, Texaco said yesterday. Excluding one-time costs, Texaco earned $817 million, or $1.50 a share, compared with $641 million, or $1.17 a share." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E3D7163DF935A15754C0A9679C8B63
"By just about any measure, the past three years have produced one of the biggest cash gushers in the oil industry’s history. Since January of 2002, the price of crude has tripled, leaving oil producers awash in profits. During that period, the top 10 major public oil companies have sold some $1.5 trillion worth of crude, pocketing profits of more than $125 billion. “This is the mother of all booms,” said Oppenheimer & Co. oil analyst Fadel Gheit. “They have so much profit, it’s almost an embarrassment of riches. They don’t know what to do with it." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8646744/
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{K:37420} 5/18/2006
