industry earnings

earnings of dow jones industrial average companies and oil and gas companiesclick chart to enlarge

ExxonMobil's earnings, although high in absolute terms, need to be viewed in the context of the scale of our industry, as well as the huge investment requirements.

  • In 2007, the oil and gas industry earned, on average, about 8.3 cents per dollar of sales — near the Dow Jones Industrial Average for major industries of 7.8 cents per dollar of sales.
  • API estimates that the industry earned 6.8 cents per dollar of sales in the second quarter of 2008.
  • In a commodities business, earnings rise and fall in cycles. We have been in an "up" cycle, influencing our current profitability.
  • About 80 percent of ExxonMobil’s earnings in the first half of 2008 came from outside the U.S.
first quarter of 2008 earnings by industryclick to enlarge

  • ExxonMobil's profits from the manufacture and sale of petroleum products in the U.S. (U.S. Downstream) in the first half of 2008 comprised around three percent of worldwide earnings.
  • Over the past three years, oil and gas production has generated about two-thirds of ExxonMobil's earnings.