Why keep prices low now and not before? Why record profits back then and not now? THERE IS NO CONSISTENCY WHATSOEVER! It has to be politics.


Margins to produce gasoline and other refined products plummeted during the quarter as prices for the fuel did not keep pace with surging crude oil prices, dragging down earnings across the industry.

Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N>, BP Plc <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell Plc <RDSa.L>, and ConocoPhillips <COP.N> all posted lower third-quarter earnings despite the sky-high oil prices.



http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/busin...=1&oref=slogin