Black Crack Rules

When we pay more for gas to feed our metal monster pets, oil companies make more money. Exxon reported yet another crazy quarter of earnings. Exxon's revenue in the three months from April to June was $99 Billion. Yes, Exxon made over $1 billion a day during that period! Exxon's net income for the quarter was $10.36 billion. I guess the profit margin in oil is not that much, but a 10% profit margin of almost $100 billion in sales is still a lot of money, too much money! Even if Exxon's profit margin were only 1%, Exxon would still have made $1 billion in three months. Some people like to call oil "black gold"; I like to call it "black crack".

One of the main reasons for rising oil prices is the fear for future shortages due to current events. The key word is "future." The future is not here. Why are we paying more now? It certainly seems that there is plenty of oil to go around for at least few more years. The current price hike does not make any sense when physical supply remains the same, plenty. Yes, many things could happen in the future to decrease supply, all speculations. What if everything goes back to normal and the future shortage never occurs? Do we get a refund?