let's have a discussion on this

The "subsidies" are simply the same tax benefits many firms get for investing in our country. The war of words is where these battles are frequently fought. The revocation of the exploration tax deductions will affect the small players, since they are the ones who actually do most of the exploring in this country.

Btw, saying the big 5 oil are the most profitable companies in the world really are a laugh man. Profits as a percentage of capital in the big 5 are WAY lower than many other firms. Look at Apple computer's profitability and tell me how Exxon is more profitable. Just because a firm reports a large profit, that is meaningless unless you look at the size of the firm, and the profit per dollar of shareholder value. Would you say a company worth $1 Billion with a profit of $5 million is more profitable than a company worth $1 million and a profit of $300,000?

 

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I agree with Medoraman - just because profits have increased dollar wise doesn't mean their profit margin has moved.

 

Very true. The energy business is emormous. The profit per dollar of revenue or capital is much lower than many other industries. Funny how the news media doesn't like to point that out.