Letter: Big oil companies not the bad guys

Wednesday, May 3, 2006 | 7:39 a.m.

This is for all the anti-"Big Oil," price-gouging conspiracy theory mavens out there.

We have all seen the headlines and TV news teasers - huge profits, record profits, price gouging!

Let us take a breath and look at the facts. The following net profit on sales (by percentage in parentheses) by oil companies and nonoil companies can be easily verified. The numbers are rounded to the nearest 1 percent and are from either the fourth quarter of 2005 or from the first quarter of 2006:

Exxon Mobil (11 percent net profit on sales), ConocoPhillips (8 percent), Chevron (8 percent) and British Petroleum (7 percent). General Electric (1 percent) Wells Fargo Bank (19 percent), 3M Corp. (15 percent), Microsoft (32 percent), Merck, the drug company (21 percent), Bank of America (19 percent) and Ford Motor Co. (2 percent).

I could go on but I am sure the point is made. "Big Oil" makes an average, normal, everyday profit margin performing its function - providing the fuel you pump into your tank!

Let us look at who is really doing the price gouging. According to the mavens, nationally "Big Oil" makes a rapacious 8-9 cents on every gallon of regular gasoline you pump into your tank. The Tax Foundation reports that local, state and federal governments (with no risk and no investment) altogether charge, on average, 45.9 cents per gallon on every gallon of regular gasoline you pump into your tank! It does not take a genius to do the math, does it?

F. Jay Harrell, Las Vegas