Profits, profits...

Food for thought...!

You know how oil is getting very rare and therefore very expensive...? Shell have just announced the biggest corporate profits ever by a company of almost 23 billion pounds. Now that's not turnover, that's blatant clear profit.

So, the next time the price of oil goes up and we all have to pay through the nose at the pumps, just think about Shell...!!!

 

Most of that profit comes from their oil exploration activities not from their forecourts I think. The blame for the obscene price we pay at the pump is with successive governments for setting and maintaining such high duty rates!

 

Taxes.

They are going up. Everywhere.

 

Everything goes towards a businesses profits, not just one or two aspects of their portfolio. Do you not think that 23 billion could go a long way towards alleviating the burden we all have to bear...??? There's profit and then there's sheer exploitation.

 

Could smell weird but same here too!

 

At the end of the day, companies don't make profit for themselves, they serve their shareholders - including the pension funds many of us rely on. If a company listed on the UK stock exchange is doing well, that's bringing wealth into Britain and that's got to be a good thing.

The price of oil is not down to Shell - that is largely down to global demand and OPEC. Whatever profits Shell make will be a down to the price of oil and how efficient they are at sucking it out of the ground - I'm glad that they're doing a good job of finding it cost effectively.

 

all i know is that shell V power is great and my little car goes extremely fast on it!!

 

"Whatever profits Shell make will be a down to the price of oil and how efficient they are at sucking it out of the ground - I'm glad that they're doing a good job of finding it cost effectively."

Profits are down to margins and they are set by Shell and no one else. The bigger the margin, the bigger the end profit.

 

The party will be over one day... just thought I'd drop this in as its an interesting site.

http://www.peakoil.net/

 

SMEagol, that site is very sobering...!

 

"Profits are down to margins and they are set by Shell and no one else. The bigger the margin, the bigger the end profit."

Not true. The price of oil is determined by a number of complex factors that no single entity has a control over (including OPEC), and the profit from fuel sales is miniscule. In fact if you pay by credit card and not buy anything else at the forecourt, the operator may even make a loss on your transaction. Don't confuse volume with excessive margin.

Vested interest: I work in the downstream side of the oil industry.