Local firms making HUGE profits...

[rayban7g]

(Excerpt from Philstar.com - May 10 '06)

Like their counterparts in the United States, local oil companies are making huge profits amid soaring fuel prices, Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra revealed yesterday.

Based on their income statements that he obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mitra said Shell’s net profit last year jumped 102 percent over the previous year to P5.762 billion, while the earnings of Petron, which is partly owned by the government, rose by almost 50 percent to P5.765 billion.

"2005 was a banner year for the oil companies because they kept on increasing their prices. They made a killing at the expense of the Filipino consumer," he said.

The Palawan lawmaker was not able to get a copy of Caltex’s SEC filing.

He said the oil firms’ income statements showed that for every peso of gas pumped into a car, three centavos ended up in the pockets of the companies’ owners in terms of net profit.

He said the huge earnings that local oil firms reported did not include the "windfall profits" made by their parent companies, which supply all their oil requirements.

He said he is not accusing oil firms of "price gouging or excessive profiteering" but that he wanted to "let the public draw its own conclusion from what the cold numbers present."

"Oil firms are not Mother Teresa’s charities but are there to make a profit for their shareholders, so it will be next to impossible to beseech them to temper their appetite for revenues. The best way to punish them is to reduce our patronage of their products by finding alternative fuels and curbing our thirst for oil," he added.

Mitra joined the call of Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, principal author of the Biofuels Bill, for the passage of the measure as soon as possible. The bill seeks to develop ethanol as an alternative fuel to replace at least 20 percent of the country’s oil needs.

Mitra said Shell made its huge profits from sales of P149 billion.

In the case of Petron, which is 40-percent owned by Saudi oil giant Saudi-Aramco, sales jumped to P191.2 billion in 2005 from P147.5 billion in 2004.

In terms of tax payments, Petron paid P2 billion in income tax, while Shell, whose net profit is just P3 million higher than Petron’s, paid P590 million more.

He noted that in the US, the American public and their lawmakers are complaining that oil companies are making a killing at a time when oil prices are soaring.

They feel that the oil firms are cheating them. US lawmakers are mulling legislation to curb "price gouging" and to impose a tax on windfall profits.

[theveed]

Another Philippine parody...

Bawal kumita ang kumpanya...

[mazdamazda]

Mitra said Shell’s net profit last year jumped 102 percent over the previous year to P5.762 billion, while the earnings of Petron, which is partly owned by the government, rose by almost 50 percent to P5.765 billion.

PLDT had a net income of P34 billion last 2005. More than all the "evil" local oil companies combined!

So why isn't anyone complaining about the huge profits of PLDT, San Miguel (P9 billion), Ayala (P8 billion), SM (P12 billion), Globe (P10 billion), BPI (P8 billion), etc.?

He said the oil firms’ income statements showed that for every peso of gas pumped into a car, three centavos ended up in the pockets of the companies’ owners in terms of net profit.

3%? That's paltry compared to the net income / sales percentage of some companies out here.

[uls]

the Republicans are in trouble. Its near election time and the american public is hit by high prices at the gas pump. Republican's popularity is plummetting and they are making statements to save their own asses. Windfall tax on oil company profits, accusations of price gouging, and the most stupid one: $100 tax rebate...

Stupid republicans: http://www.slate.com/id/2140613/

wanna lower oil price? use less of it. thats the only solution. But its easier said than done. People are not willing to change their lifestyles.

Oil companies, or any business, operate for profit.

The incentive for being in business is that u will make money. If u penalize businesses for making money, who will want to be in business?

No businesses, no jobs, people eat dirt.

[theveed]

M2: Ganyan naman lagi dito eh, kung mahal ang charge ng isang company, pero tipong slow ang billing (monthly) or di sya "nauubos" physically, di nagrereklamo mga tao...

Eh kung karamihan kaya magtapon ng 10-20 pesos na text for useless replies daily di nagrereklamo, I wonder why they complain so much with .50 increase in fuel.

Are people getting more and more ignorant these days?

[FrankDrebin]

Eh kung karamihan kaya magtapon ng 10-20 pesos na text for useless replies daily di nagrereklamo, I wonder why they complain so much with .50 increase in fuel.

Baka naka-unlimited text? Hehehe. :D

[bardigones]

ot: maybe because unlike the text messages, yung sa fuel - may domino effect. taasan karamihan ng consumer goods.

[niky]

Agree with M2, 3% profit off of one peso is downright tiny. A profit of 10% or much more is usually standard.

I can empathize. People keep saying tuition fees are price gouging. What they don't realize is how expensive running a school can be. For example... La Salle is already a non-profit, tax-deferred (or free, don't know which) school, with high tuition fees. And still construction costs for new schools and facilities are subsidized by "fund drives"... e.g.: begging... from the students. How I wish I owned La Salle... ...if we were to upgrade our facilities to their level (in terms of looks), we'd have to increase our own tuition fees about 50% or more... or about 20%-30% more than they charge.

If you really want to make money, you sink it in food, tobacco or alcohol.

[oldblue]

for me 3% profit is ok kung halos di naman pagtatrabaho yan, oil eh it doesn't need marketing, research, etc. kahit nasa europe ako o nasa america alam ko mauubos ang inventory ko kung may-ari man ako ng oil company or gasoline station.

[theveed]

pano na kami mga mahihirap... chants in the background hehe.