The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #113173   Message #2403790
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
02-Aug-08 - 03:13 PM
Thread Name: BS: Exxon Mobil Corp. Record profits
Subject: RE: BS: Exxon Mobil Corp. Record profits
Hibernia ownership:
Exxon Mobil Canada (Imperial)- 33.125%
Chevron Canada Resources- 26.875%
PetroCanada- 20%
Canada Hibernia- 8.5%
Murphy- 6.5%
StatoilHydro- 5%

Production allowed- 220,000KPD
Est. total reserves 1 billion bbls. (Tiny, compared with fields elsewhere. Not certain where the economic cutoff is here).

Cost of development $5.8 billion. The Canadian government provided $2.6 billion in loans and loan guarantees, which debt has been paid back.
Money distribution, Total as of 2006 year end-
Newfoundland- $1.2 billion
Oil companies consortium- $8.8 billion
Canada government- $4.8 billion

Info sources-
Canadian Press, Nov. 15, 2007, www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2007/11/15/hibernia-decade.html

About Hibernia, www.hibernia.ca/html/about-hibernia/index.html

Reuters, Jan. 17, 2007- Newfoundland Rejects Hibernia oil field expansion. (In essence, they want a bigger cut).
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There continues to be failure to recognize the importance of scale.
Exxon Mobil, in % profit, taxes, etc., is no different from the small company worth only a few million. The business is subject to wide fluctuations in profit, exploration and infrastructure costs, and the whims of governments that control reserves in their jurisdiction.
Cheap politicians and ignorant journalists point to large size as a reason to denigrate and attack, diverting attention from the true causes of the public's misery.
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Chevron, No. 2 oil company in the U. S., has just reported good quarterly profits, but there are danger signals- they posted a loss on refining due to high costs of crude.
Large integrated oil companies with refining and product a large part of their business could be down-rated in the stock market if their profits fall further. No longer a 'hold,' but a 'sell.'