Higher Gas Prices Help ExxonMobil Profits Soar By 41 Percent

High gas prices were good news once again for oil giant ExxonMobil as profits soared by 41 percent in Q3 2011, a second straight quarter of increasing profits.

Net earnings for the oil giant were up $10.33 billion, equal to $2.13 per share while sales increased to 31.5 percent over the same period in 2010, a total of $125.33 billion.

The company claimed $8.6 billion in capital expenses and exploration which took their total spent in those areas to $26.7 billion for the first nine months of the year.

In a statement about the company’s profit xxonMobil chairman Rex Tillerson said:

“We continue pursuing new opportunities to meet growing energy demand while supporting economic growth, including job creation.”

Profits over the first three quarters of 2011 are up 49 percent year-over-year taking the company’s total haul to $31.7 billion

ExxonMobil said in their financial release that their natural gas production was “about flat” while third quarter oil-equivalent production decreased by four percent from one year earlier.

In the meantime ExxonMobil recently reached a deal with Russia’s Rosneft to explore oil well production in the arctic and Black Sea areas.

ExxonMobil is also busy buying back shares, spending $5.5 billion in the third quarter with $5 billion more to be spent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Are you surprised to learn that ExxonMobil keeps making record profits while prices at the pump continue to soar?