EnergyFactor By ExxonMobil | Pespectives has a new home

Miscellaneous

Today I was in New York attending ExxonMobil’s annual meeting with analysts at the New York Stock Exchange. Each year, we take this opportunity to review our previous year’s performance and preview upcoming projects for analysts interested in evaluating the financial and strategic standing of our company. But a lot of the information shared during this meeting is of importance to everyone, not just analysts.

Putting our earnings in context

Posted: February 1, 2011 by Ken Cohen

We announced our 2010 results yesterday, and while much of the coverage focused on the headline earnings of $30 billion, I want to share some other key numbers to help put it in perspective.


Striking a regulatory balance

Posted: January 19, 2011 by Ken Cohen

In his op-ed in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (“Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System”), President Obama opened with the following statement: “For two centuries, America’s free market has not only been the source of dazzling ideas and path-breaking products, it has also been the greatest force for prosperity the world has ever known.” We could not agree more. Free markets drive innovation and growth across all sectors of our economy, including the energy sector.

I talked earlier this week about how crude oil prices have increased about 15 percent over the past year, which reflects a trend in rising commodity prices across the board in 2010. Not surprisingly, this means that gasoline prices are also up, because crude oil is the single-largest factor in determining the price at the pump in the U.S. But just how much does the price of crude impact U.S. gasoline prices?


Rising gasoline prices have been in the news recently, and there’s a lot of talk about why this is the case. Rising demand due to a global economic recovery, a lower value for the dollar, supply fundamentals – these are just a few of the potential factors that can drive up the price of crude oil, which in turn impacts the price of gasoline. Crude oil is one of a number of globally traded commodities like gold, corn, coffee and many others.

You might have heard that the EPA has decided to authorize the use of gasoline with a 15 percent blend of ethanol (E15) – beyond the current 10 percent blend (E10) – in vehicles built since 2007. In doing so, I think the government is actually demonstrating some real problems with the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) – problems that could hurt consumers, the auto industry and other businesses alike.



  • Worth a deeper look...