Awash In Profits, Exxon Extracting Every Penny From Its Franchisees

Washington Post:

Every time Sohaila Rezazadeh rings up a sale at her Exxon station on Chain Bridge Road in Oakton, her cash register sends the information to Exxon Mobil's central computers. If she raises the price of gasoline a couple of pennies, chances are that Exxon will raise the wholesale price she pays by the same amount.

Through a password-protected Web portal, Exxon notifies Rezazadeh of wholesale price changes daily. That way the oil giant, which is earning about $3.3 billion a month, fine-tunes the pump prices at the franchise Rezazadeh has owned for 12 years.

Now, however, Rezazadeh says she cannot stay in business. Credit-card fees are eating her profit margins. Exxon, which owns the station land, last week handed Rezazadeh a new lease raising her rent about 30 percent over the next three years. She stuck a copy on the window of her station to show customers who are angry about soaring pump prices. Rezazadeh has told Exxon that she cannot make money with the rent that high. Her territory manager's reply, she said, was simple: When you go, leave us the keys.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[ObamaLover]

Thanks Ted......

Decrying “excessive profits by oil companies,” Kennedy led a successful drive to eliminate the 22 percent oil depletion allowance, a tax break he said amounted to “welfare for oil companies.”

But the fine print in Kennedy’s bill allowed certain “small” oil companies, including those owned by the Senator’s family, to keep their depletion allowance. In the twenty-plus years since the legislation was passed, the Kennedy oil companies have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in oil depletion allowance.

****************
I guess it's not just Bush and Cheney that make money from oil companies!

[ChiGuy]

Let's imagine that those "hundreds of thousands of dollars in oil depletion allowance" amount to the maximum: $999,999.
Now, not having looked up how many exactly "twenty-plus years" is, I'll assume that it's 22 years.

That comes to just under $45,500 per year, divided by how many companies?
And how much of that, if any, actually finds its way into Kennedy's pocket?

[ObamaLover]

main point being, he drafted legislation that excluded his 3 companies, thus profiting from the legislation.
legal? i guess. ethical? no.

he is a typical crooked politician... he has a good heart and wants to help most people... just as long as that help doesn't affect him negatively

[BillN]

...so you're saying that "millions" of dollars weren't involved here? That's barely a drop in the bucket compared to the BILLIONS that the large oil corporations are taking from our treasury in subsidies. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

[ObamaLover]

Nacny Pelosi, 2006, shortly before democrats gained control:
“Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”

* * *

OK nancy, it's been 2 years... can we hear about this "commonsense plan" now.

[ChiGuy]

Once she has a veto-proof majority, you sure as hell will.
Until then, Bush will bounce anything even remotely looking like legislation affecting his buddies in Big Oil, and the gutless, party-before-country Republicans in Congress will never lift their lips from his ass long enough for 16 of them to vote to override his veto.

[bikerdude]

This is a shining example of why we should not trust these thugs and pirates with "free trade" and non-regulation. They will take every penny they can and leave us with the spoils. We must hold them accountable and insure that the trade agreements and regulation are for the good of the U.S. citizens. Left to their own devices, these greedy, self-serving people will walk over our bodies for their almighty profit.

[Meteor]

Corporate blood suckers!

[OutragedMom]

I remember when price-fixing was illegal in this country. Thanks to the Republicans, it is no longer a problem for massive chains.

[bikerdude]

I hope you were being facetious. Just watch the prices rise identically at the different stations. Price fixing is a live and well and is a favorite tool of the republican corporatists.

[FeloniouslyAnnoying]

Err, I think you misread the outragedmom.

try it one more time.

she said "for" not "at".

[Raymondf]

Ikeep harping on this term limits, congress, and senate in bed with big oil lobbyist, getting big kickbacks. Everyone should be screaming for term limits. 2-6 year terms across the board for congress and senate. Then they can never run again for either house or senate.

[Raymondf]

p.s. You can see right now. It won't matter who is elected president. The congress and the senate run this country. If you want to get mad at some one. Get mad at the congressperson, or senator, in your states. We have a senator in our state that was elected when he was 38 he's now 93. term limits please.

[Bobby]

Please see this from Greg Palast.

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/obamas-secret-war-profiteering-tax

JFK tried to do a similar thing before he was assassinated.

For those of you who really do not understand the significance of JFK wanting to change the oil depletion allowance from 27.5 cents per gallon to 15 cents per gallon, here is my explanation. The oil depletion allowance allows oil companies to get an automatic deduction of a certain amount for every barrel of oil that they pump. It is a "give me " deduction. The oil companies get it without spending any money. So if you are an oil company and the president wants to reduce the depletion allowance (or automatic tax deduction) by 12.5 cents per gallon and if you are pumping 500 million barrels of oil per year then you will lose (500 million X 12.5 cents) $62,500,000.00 per year in deductions. In 1963 the top income tax rates for the wealthiest taxpayers was 91%. If you were in the 91 percent income tax bracket then a 62 million, five hundred thousand dollar deduction would mean saving 56 million, 875 thousand tax dollars per year. PER YEAR!

Exxon, Chevron and others have NEVER had BIGGER profits. War profiteers like Blackwater and Halliburton have never had it so good. Meanwhile, we have people in the White House that are from the oil business and the war profiteering business. Go figure.

[bac]

This is so true, and in a way quite sad. While the oil companies are making obscene profits, the gas station owners are slowly being squeezed out of business. I see so many gas stations closing in Texas where I live. Strangely, in almost all these corner lots, they are opening new Bank offices. Who needs so many banks! I was in Las Vegas recently and chatting with the cabbie, I found out that he used to own a gas station in Dallas till recently, but had to go out of business. Now he is driving a cab in Las Vegas to make a living. So sad, and so ironic!

[LeonBNJ]

Let's face it but for the laws in some states that protect franchises and limit parent ownership of retail operations in the oil buiness as well as the day to day hassles of operating a modern gas station, you know the oil companies would love to operate them directly. You also have the sharp decline of family run gas stations due to high property and business taxes, increasing regulations, the huge costs of envriormental cleanup and maintence, the capital you have to tie up to buy gas and it is chasing away many operators. It is much like want is happening all over America - with a few companies controlling the economy and reaping it profits.

[gakabani]

We are a pathetic nation. If we were in Mexico and these were the prices for oil, we would be have protests all over the country; however, we are just passively waiting for the economy to collapse until oil hits 200 per barrel. We are truly a pathetic nation with pathetic values.

[Crozier]

The Civil War was 1861-65. Since then, most "Northerners" are from immigrant stock whose ancestors did not fight for the Union and the Grand Army of the Republic. The plurality of "Southerners" had ancestors who fought in the Confederacy for President Jeff Davis. In fact, they dispute that it was a civil war, calling it " The War Between the States."

Since that time, the Owners of the Infrastructure and Commerce of the Nation have succeeded - with only the two society traitor Roosevelts - to create first a nationalistic and now an international gilded age for themselves. When the working class was lulled to sleep with consumption and life on credit with liberal bankruptcy laws, it was okay.

The National Guard units keep law and order when the governor orders it. Bush sent the National Guard to learn about guerilla urban warfare in Iraq. I believe that many of these weekend warriors are now conditioned to keep US mainland civil unrest to a minimum. They thought of everything....the loss of freedoms as well as treasure. This is a well thought out plan...This is why President Obama must be protected at all costs.

[susiesorority]

People have been urging the country to get together and create a Marshall Plan for energy for years, and people just kept buying huge vehicles. I have people in my neighborhood, whining about how they love their SUV and their Hummer and why is gas so expensive. These are the same people with absolutely no concern for the larger world beyond their own little lives.
Our country's MO is in death throes, and no plans have been made, hell no light barely shines, over what we're facing. Part of it is bad leadership, but a lot of it is also citizenry not caring enough to look ahead and take responsibility for their own actions.

[Raymondf]

By what you can afford, if you can't afford it don't buy it. I have only a bank debit card. I do not have any other credit card. If I can't afford it I don't buy it.

[hypnotoad72]

Thank the "Libertarians" who rationalize everything, re-rationalize to excuse themselves, buy big gas-guzzling SUVs, and then whine over gas prices...

[bola47]

in the not too distant past, service stations were just that, offering "service". now they are convenience stores that sell gas. service margins were very high and the station owners were able to make a very nice living. now they are just puppets of their masters earning what the oil giants allow them. i have not bought any exxon mobil gas for over 5 years. they are the largest importer of arabian oil.

[sparkandy]

Okay, I'm willing to boycot Exxon. However, how do I know where the little independent gas station ultimately gets that gas? You'd have to trace every drop of oil back to it's origin, finding out where along the way, any particular oil company had any part in extraction, refining, moving, wholesaling, etc.

[lornejl]

The Sherman Antitrust Act is no more.

[wolf58]

THE NEW BOSTON TEA PARTY

BOYCOTT ALL EXXON MOBIL PRODUCTS for one year.

Its time to take back America one oil company at a time

[incontempt]

Exxon is the scumiest....I never buy fuel at these stations and I am personally boycotting them, they still have not come good for thevaldeez "accident" and stealing gas/oil from states gouging americans at a wholesale pace. They should be the first targetted with monopoly investigations and should immediately be broken up to pay for the wake of damage they have caused to global eco systems and economies.

[bikerdude]

Hmmm, I thought Chavez and Citgo were the scummiest...or was it BP? None of them are writing down profits to ease our pain.

[Raymondf]

I don't buy Citgo gas because of chavez. If there were a Citgo at 3.85 and Chevron next door at 4.00 I would pay 4.00

[MissingAmerica]

It would seem the worst thing about Bush's pandering to the oil industry, is the industry itself. We need a president who will say enough is "enough to the oil" companies, and we need a Congress who will say "enough is enough" to this administration -- impeachment should be on the table.

[Raymondf]

No we need new senators and congresspersons who won't listen to the oil lobbyist, and environmentalist, and start building refineries, and drilling in Anwar. Also we have the tecnology right now to convert coal into gas, and coal is plentiful in this country. Tell the environmentalist to go to hell, our lives are at stake. Gas goes up, causes food to go up. Why have a job when you can't affort to get to it. If some changes aren't made, by term limit for congress and senate. No president elected will changea thing.