Would someone, preferably a representative of a giant oil company, please explain this?
If you truly want to know – read on. I hope you’re not here just to slam the industry. Before getting into the deeper detail, that ‘service station’ is running on a shoestring. Most of them would not even exist if they did not sell drinks, snax, cigarettes and other quick stop products. They barely break even on gasoline. Let’s use the maligned Exxonmobil as an example. They made about 7% return on their money when they posted those ‘record’ profits. Very little of the profit generated by ExxonMobil is derived from the sale of gasoline to drivers. So what OIL is used for and where are the profits to be made? How about Fertilizer, Candles, Detergent, Vitamins. CDs and dvds, Plastic, ink, and Film are just some of the examples of regular everyday goods that need oil. If everyone in the US stopped driving tomorrow, ExxonMobil would still generate 85-90% of the money they took in this last quarter. ExxonMobil is the world’s No. 1 supplier of lube basestocks and a leader in marketing finish
