EXXON Mobil Corp, the world's largest oil company, said yesterday fourth-quarter profit rose 14 percent amid the biggest increase in crude prices in the 148-year history of the petroleum industry.
Net income climbed to a record US$11.7 billion, or US$2.13 a share, from US$10.3 billion, or US$1.76, a year earlier, the firm said yesterday in a statement. Profit for all of 2007 was US$40.6 billion, topping Exxon Mobil's own record for full-year profit by a United States company, Bloomberg News reported.
Oil had its biggest yearly increase by US-dollar amount before trading last month above US$100 a barrel for the first time. A 50-percent gain in average US futures prices in the fourth quarter made up for contracts with oil-rich nations that cut producers' share of output when crude rallies.
"With the price of oil up as much as it was, it more than offset any declines in production," said Douglas Ober, whose biggest holding is Exxon Mobil in the US$1.8 billion he helps manage at Adams Express Co in Baltimore. "If we see more results like this, I think we're going to see a stirring up in Congress among people who feel these guys are getting away with murder."
Growth in global demand for oil-derived fuels used to run trucks, trains, airplanes and automobiles accelerated to 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter from 1.2 percent in the preceding three months, according to the International Energy Agency.
Refiners and chemicals producers processed a record high of 87.2 million barrels of oil a day during the final three months of 2007, the Paris-based IEA said in a January 16 report.
Exxon Mobil is the world's biggest refiner and pumps more oil than every member of OPEC except Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The earnings statement was released before the start of regular US stock trading.
Exxon Mobil on Thursday rose US$1.12 to US$86.40 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock, which has 10 buy and 11 hold ratings from analysts, rose 22 percent in 2007, outperforming Exxon Mobil's biggest rivals, Europe's Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc.
ConocoPhillips last week reported a 37-percent jump in fourth-quarter profit to US$4.37 billion, a company record.