What a figure.



Source: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/art...test/article.do

And the irony is it will keep going up.

I don't understand how that's irony. :/

To be honest, that`s little compared to what the UK government is raking in from all the fuel taxes. If I remember correctly, its around 70%-75% tax on fuel.

It does`nt annoy me really (Shell making that money) , however the obscene tax on fuel does ... I would not mind but I hear that only around 10% of it is actually spent on transport related things....

I`d be more interested to know how much HM Government is taking a day in fuel tax...

I'd be more interested in figuring out where half of the money the Government receives actually goes...


Keep it up Shell, catching up with ExxonMobil.. slowly!

me too...

Doesn't really concern me.

However, it makes me glad that I don't own a car even more. (feel bad for those who do)
~Joey

There was a lot of speculation at this sort of thing. It amazes me that we ALLOW the companies to continue to make gasoline so expensive. They have been saying their profit is nill but this goes to show that's not true.

How LONG will we put up with it?

I have a 6.0 liter engine. Hurts sometimes to fill up.

They had the knowledge and foresight to make such a large company.

I wonder if they have the knowledge and foresight to know what to do when all that oil starts running out.

It won't run out in our lifetime

Depends how you define 'run out' I guess. Logic and economics dictates that as it becomes rarer, the price increase exponentially, to the point where the last gallon on the planet will be almost unaffordable. It may not 'run out', but will it become scarce enough that we have to find alternatives? I think so...

This would give you a good idea:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/poli...icle3285605.ece

I am convinced that this kind of abuse of the taxpayer's money is quite common.

wow, that is a ludicrous sum of money, especially when (as Michael said) you consider that these companies claim they are making little profit which is why prices keep going up.




Oh well, I guess we shouldn't worry about it, let the next generation deal with it

Of course, most of the profit Shell makes doesn't come from retail petrol sales, so it couldn't be expected that this would have any affect on the price at the pump.

I'm sure the slamming companies like Shell get for the prices is incredibly irritating to them, what with the largest chunk of the cost being added by the government:

Indeed, on all sides. The Speaker (Labour) of the House of Commons spends £20,000+ a year 'entertaining' guests apparently. Though the media doesn't seem to care about that as much!

True, and what really is infuriating is that nothing ever happens. Politicians who involved in these kind of corruptions are rarely penalised and when they are, it is the equivalent of a slap on the hand. What gets reported in the media is just the tip of the iceberg.

GTO?

Bend over and continue taking it.

I guess if (from their standpoint) you consider your total costs per year (prolly in the billions as a easy guess), 75 million is tiny.

They just forgot thats the DAILY amount.

We should all use up all natural resources and then just move to Mars after making it inhabitable.

it says $75 million profit a day, not $75 million income. so that is after costs etc.

Maybe I'm used the wrong word, or used it out of context... But let me restate that in another way... They raise the price because of the cost to produce it, yet a single oil company is making $75 million a day (little over $27 billion a year), but the price will never go down to where it used to be. I remember back when I was about 10 years old (21 now) it was around $1 per gallon (well under $2, but a little more than $1). Now it's well over $3... And I know other states are paying more than that, and other countries like UK pay a heck of a lot more than that (although they do have cars will better millage).

The point is they've been making a ton of money on oil for years, and as time goes on they make even more money. The price hasn't gone down, and it isn't going to. It does fluctuate, but it never goes back down to what it was... Remember people were saying that if gas went up to $3 it would be a very bad thing for the economy... It's over $3, and has been for some time.... It has gone under $3 barely a few times, but that really doesn't matter in the long run.

Truth is it's going to keep going up until it becomes so expensive that it causes an economic disaster, or something drastically changes our dependency on oil. The thing is as the price of Gas goes up, it causes inflation of everything else.. Things start costing more than they used to, and people start getting paid more.. But at some point the inflation of things just isn't going to keep up, and it's going to cause a lot of problems. For example, minimum wage here hardly ever goes up. I think it's just under $8 per hour now, or is it even less than that? People used to be able to live on their own more easily back then than now... You simply cannot make it on minimum wage now unless you know someone that's willing to help you out. Even with a higher pay rate, people have a harder time keeping up with expenses... And the thing is the oil prices seem like they can change on a whim... Prices for gas can change multiple times in a day... how long does it take everything else to adjust?

All I can say about this is I'm not surprised in the least bit.

I really don't think we can moan at the prices we pay at the pump from Shell. Of course they could use the $75m to cut costs at the pump, but most of their income is from their primary sector businesses and refinery businesses. What do they do with this profit? There are more profitable firms on the stock market, so it must go into some good causes - i.e. internal/external R&D.

Luke - add a few years of inflation to what you've been paying... then compare!

I don't think you quite understand what I was saying. I totally understand the concept of inflation and the direct relation. The problem is gas prices increases faster than inflation occurs, especially with income. Minimum wage is a prime example of this. There is a significant delay between the two. If you were to watch a gas station a day, you'll see them change the price in the middle of the day, and more than once. Some stations have LED signs that automatically change, although most do not as it's cheaper to send an employee, paid minimum wage, to go outside and change the number cards.

The 75 million PER DAY is just Shell... That's over 27 billion dollars a year. That is a huge profit margin.

Honestly I could care less how much oil costs... what I'd like to see more is an alternative so I don't need oil at all. Maybe something will happen in the future, who knows. But it seems to me the time gap between changing gas prices and inflation is widening, and eventually it will be bad for everyone.

I don't drive, but seriously gas prices are just not fair. Things such as gas and food and health care should be less expensive. Like it has been said in here, this is profit not just income before expenses taken out.

I think you missed a key point... Shell aren't really making much of the profit on the sale of petrol at the pump, they're making it from their other operations. You should absolutely care about the cost of oil, because that's pretty key to the price you pay the retailer. Pump prices fluctuate wildly based on how much the oil price fluctuates throughout the day ( which it does ) and thus how much the individual retailers have to pay to buy the fuel.

There's not a chance that Shell would use the profits of other areas of the business to lower the pump price, because they'd end up running pumps at a loss and their shareholders wouldn't take too kindly to it.

I don't care where they are making their PROFIT, the fact that they ARE making such a profit tells me that in this "time of crisis" they should contribute and lower fuel prices. The prices where they are now are affecting us pretty badly, and in the long run it is going to affect the oil companies too as we come up with newer, more fuel effiecient ways to power our vehicles. So really it is in their own INTEREST to lower prices if you think about it.

Nothing is ever going to be run how it should be, so no point in really even thinking about it. it's just ridiculous what so many greedy companies get away with.

Why should a business use profit to cut costs at their own expense? As I said before, both Shell, BP, etc, spend a lot of their profit on reinvestment in Research and Development on cleaner fuels, cleaner processing and even alternative fuels for the future. They know better than anyone that their business will have to change when there's less oil to be found.

Like I said, if they don't use some of it to cut costs on fuel then we'll search for a better way. Hybrid vehicles are being made like crazy right now. If the prices continue to be high then MORE people will search for alternative fuels. We already know water has worked, and battery power.

How do we know that PROFIT is being used to do research, whereas maybe some of the other income was already used for it?

Wow as if I didn't already think some people here have some...... interesting opinions, now we have people taking up for big corporations. lol

I don't like it when people make random words into full capitals, it sounds like you're screaming in my ear.

They don't use profit for R&D, as if they did it wouldn't be included in the profit figure. They do, however, put significant amounts of money into R&D as a part of their standard budgets.

Companies like Shell, BP, Exxon-Mobil - they're not stupid... They know, probably better than you do, that high pump prices and the constant talk of global warming are going to lead people towards alternative energy sources. That's why they're investing so much in exactly that, so they can be the ones to supply that to you when you stop buying their oil-based products.



I'm not 'taking up for big corporations', and I don't think Matt was either... We're just stating simple facts. Businesses always have and always will avoid running any of their areas of operation at a loss, and Shell are highly unlikely to do that as a favour to the public. Additionally, that's really not where the cost at the pump is driven from - It's from the price of oil, which changes frequently - So complaining about Shell's quarterly report isn't going to get you far.

Okay I could understand if I were one of those people who use full caps, however I am using them for emphasis. In other words they were not RANDOM in any way.

How do my capitals really SOUND? Oh yeah, they don't effect the speakers at all do they?

Do you have something to contribute or are you just in this thread to bash others over idiotic things?

I care, it's just that gas prices will continue to increase, and there's no stopping it. The only thing that's going to change things if one of the following things happen:

1) We have another economic disaster, which has been predicted, but no one knows for sure whether or not this will happen.
2) The technologies produced, like electric cars, get mass produced and put on the shelf for a reasonable price. As it stands they have a car (sports car) that can go up to 135 miles an hour (or so) and go 200 miles without needing a charge. But it costs $80+k, and they're custom made. They have the technology now, they just choose not to make it. The other thing, which is a serious problem, is most of our power plants are coal based. If cars were all made electric, it would put a much higher demand on the power plants, and in turn burn more coal, which would potentially cause the same problem, or make it worse as far as pollution goes.
3) We run out of oil and are forced to go with an alternative. Very unlikely as they have reserves that will last for 50 years or more. Not exactly something that will happen soon, if it did.

And as some have pointed out, the $75 million is profit. This is after expenses, including research and development, which I find hard to believe that they research much of anything.

They could be getting some of this money from other places, but where else? Their main source of income is gas, isn't it?

Some businesses use a percentage of their retained profit for research yearly, I'm not sure if Shell do too.

Kudos to what you said!

Edit-


Businesses profit does not just go to shareholders - a large amount goes back into the business.

I know some oil companies have started, but I think it's in their best interest to increase R&D on alternative fuels, and not just say they are while sitting on their behinds.

Think about it. If they start developing alternative fuels, the transition to them in the next, 20 or 30 years will be pretty smooth. If not, they'll be left in the dust when somebody else comes out with it first.

Adapt or die, adapt or die.

Only $35 million until they catch up to Exxon



I'd imagine they get a lot from over priced food in their stores.

Most of the money comes from when oil comes out of the ground, not from selling it at the pump. They're entirely different businesses I would imagine.