Wow. I speculated about getting ready for $5 per gallon gas here in the US a few weeks ago, but when you read that the oil companies are breaking the record for most profit in a single quarter – ever! For any company! Ever! It kind of makes you pissed off.

The New York Times reported today that Exxon’s Second Quarter Earnings Set a Record:

HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil reported the best quarterly profit ever for a corporation on Thursday, beating its own record, but investors sold off shares as oil and natural gas prices resumed their recent decline.

Record earnings for Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, have become routine as the surge of oil prices in recent years has filled its coffers. The company’s income for the second quarter rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, compared to the same period a year ago. That beat the previous record of $11.66 billion set by Exxon in the last three months of 2007.

Exxon’s profits were nearly $90,000 a minute over the quarter, but it was less than Wall Street had expected. Exxon’s shares fell 4.6 percent, to close at $80.43. (The company calculates that it pays $274,000 a minute in taxes and spends $884,000 a minute to run the business.)

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Well, you better get ready. Gas was near an all time inflation adjusted high back in April, but as of right now we’re already paying more than we’ve ever paid for a gallon of gas. According to the Wall Street Journal:

The skyrocketing price of oil, now up more than 44% so far this year, is battering the airline and auto industries and causing consumers to cut back on driving and nonessential spending.

That jolt is reinvigorating worries that crude prices could ratchet still higher, putting a severe squeeze on many economies around the world and deepening the growing tension between the world’s big oil exporters and consuming countries.

This chart illustrates the price of Gas in the US in both real dollars and inflation adjusted dollars. Either way we’re at the top of the scale right now.
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