There isn’t a direct correlation between green stocks and oil prices, but some correlation can’t be denied.  If oil prices continue to rise back above the $100/barrel level or even just stay where they are, then alternative sources of energy become much more attractive and the stocks of companies in wind, solar, electric cars, the smart grid, etc benefit big time.  It’s safe to say that in the coming decades, the prices of commodities will continue to rise as supplies diminish and demand skyrockets.

For this reason, I have put together another portal for investors called Oil ETF Central which focuses on oil prices and oil ETF’s.  It’s still very much in beta and literally days old, so much work remains, but I think it’s useful enough to present to the public   Feel free to contact me with suggestions to help make this portal an even better source of information for oil ETFs.  Your feedback is always welcome and much appreciated.

This oil and gas industry perspective highlights only US-quoted drilling companies that provide offshore drilling activities in the ongoing search for that elusive black gold. There are a staggering number of different types of drilling rigs in operation around the globe and this summary is only for major US companies and does not include the independent drillers. Other UK, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese and many other countries have similar quantities of drilling rigs in operation on a global basis.

Check out our new Oil Etf site!

Before drilling begins, oil/gas companies will conduct geological surveys of an area to determine the potential for oil or gas deposits and to identify specific drilling targets. Geologic survey companies will be the subject of a future oil/gas industry perspective.

The oil/gas company chooses the location and supervises the operation, which may take as little as 15 days or as long as 12 months, of round-the-clock, seven-days-per-week operation to drill a single well depending on the complexity of the project. Drilling is for two basic types of wells—exploratory (to find new oil or gas deposits) and development (to prepare the discovery for production). Water depths range from 20 to 400 feet for jack-up rigs to up to 10,000 feet for semi-submersibles and drill-ships

Drilling rigs generally consist of engines, a draw-works, a derrick (tower), and pumps to circulate the drilling fluid (mud) under various pressures, blowout preventers, drill string and related equipment. The engines power the different pieces of equipment, including a rotary table or top drive that turns the drill string, causing the drill bit to bore through the subsurface rock layers. Rock cuttings are carried to the surface by the circulating drilling fluid. The intended well depth, bore hole diameter and drilling site conditions are the principal factors that determine the size and type of rig most suitable for a particular drilling job.  Draw works is the mechanical section that contains the spool, whose main function is to reel in/out the drill line to raise/lower the traveling block.

The following is a brief summary of the types of drilling rigs involved…

1) Jack-up rigs stand on the ocean floor with their hull and drilling equipment elevated above the water on leg supports. Jack-up rigs are used in water depths of 400 feet or less to provide stable drilling. At the drilling site, the legs are lowered and the hull is jacked up on the legs to the desired elevation above the water. The hull then serves as a drilling platform. After the well is completed, the hull is lowered into the water, the legs are elevated and the rig is towed to the next drilling site. Most jack-up rigs are equipped with cantilevers that allow the drilling equipment to extend outward from the hull over fixed platforms enabling drilling of both exploratory and development wells. The jack-up rig hull supports the drilling equipment, jacking system, crew quarters, storage and loading facilities, helicopter landing pad and related equipment.

2) Semi-submersible rigs are floating offshore drilling units with pontoons and columns that, when sea water is controlled to enter, cause the units to be partially submerged to a predetermined depth. Semi-submersible rigs can be held in a fixed location over the ocean floor either by being anchored to the sea bottom with mooring chains or dynamically positioned by computer-controlled thrusters. Semi-submersibles do not rest on the sea floor like jack-up rigs. Instead, the working deck sits atop giant pontoons and hollow columns. These float high in the water when the rig is moved. At the drill site, the crew pumps seawater into the pontoons and columns to partially submerge the rig, hence the name semi-submersible. With much of its bulk below the water’s surface, the semi-submersible becomes a stable platform for drilling, moving only slightly with wind and currents.  Like jack-ups, most semi-submersibles are towed to the drill site.

3) Drill-ships are specially built seagoing vessels that drill in waters as deep as 10,000 feet. Drilling equipment is installed on the deck, with the derrick normally placed in the middle of the ship. The well is drilled through an opening (called a “moon pool”) that extends to the water’s surface below the derrick. Because of their cargo-carrying capacity and exceptional mobility, drill-ships are especially useful for drilling exploratory wells. Although they are not as stable as semi-submersibles in rough water, they can be moved from location to location much faster. They maintain their position through mooring or dynamic positioning systems.

4) Barge rigs are towed to the drilling location and are held in place by anchors while drilling activities are conducted. The barge rigs has the crew quarters, storage facilities and related equipment mounted on the floating barge, with the drilling equipment cantilevered from the stern of the barge. When moved from one location to another, the barge floats; when stationed on the drill or work-over site, the barge is submerged to rest on the bottom. Typically, inland barge rigs are used to drill or work-over wells in marshes, shallow inland bays and offshore where the water covering the drill site is not too deep; barge rigs can operate at depths between three and 25 feet.

Jack-up daily rates are of the order of $70,000 to $150,000 whereas drill-ships and semi-submersibles charge daily rates of $250,000 to $400,000.

ATW – ATWOOD OCEANICS, INC is engaged in the business of international offshore drilling of exploratory and developmental oil and gas wells. ATW conducts drilling operations in most of the major offshore exploration areas of the world including: Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, Black Sea, Australia, East and West Africa, Southeast Asia, China, Far East, Papua New Guinea, India, Mediterranean Sea, Central and South America and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

>>> Click Here For More Atwood Oceanics Analysis

ATW fleet consists of eight active drilling units, which includes three semi-submersibles capable of drilling in up to 5,000 feet of water, one semi-submersible capable of drilling in up to 2,000 feet of water, one 400 feet cantilever jack-up, one 300 feet cantilever jack-up, one semi-submersible self-erecting tender-assist rig, and one submersible.

DO – Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. is a global offshore oil and gas drilling contractor. DO’s fleet consists of 30 semisubmersibles, 14 jack-ups and one drillship. DO offer a range of services worldwide including deep water, harsh environment, conventional semisubmersible and jack-up markets. One of DO’s significant customers is Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) (see previous oil/gas industry perspective) accounting for over 10% of its annual total revenues. DO provides contract drilling services to the energy industry around the globe and is a leader in deepwater drilling in harsh environments such as the North Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, the Straits of Magellan, the south China Sea and Australia’s Bass Strait.

>>> Click Here For More Diamond Offshore Analysis

ESV - Ensco International Inc. provides offshore contract drilling services to the international oil and gas industry and they operate a fleet of 46 drilling rigs, including 43 jack-up rigs, two ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rigs and one barge rig. Additionally, six ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs are under construction. Two semi-submersible rigs, as well as the additional six semi-submersible rigs under construction, are ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rigs, capable of drilling at depths of 8,000 feet or greater.

>>> Click Here For More Ensco Analysis

HERO – Hercules Offshore, Inc. provides shallow-water drilling and marine services to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry in the United States, Gulf of Mexico and internationally. The Company provides these services to integrated energy companies, independent oil and natural gas operators and national oil companies. The Company operates in six business segments: Domestic Offshore, International Offshore, Inland, Domestic Lift-boats, International Lift-boats and Delta Towing.

>>> Click Here For More Hercules Offshore Analysis

HP – Helmerich & Payne, Inc. is primarily engaged in contract drilling of oil and gas wells for others. The Company’s contract drilling business is composed of three business segments: United States land drilling, offshore drilling and international land drilling. The Company’s United States land drilling is conducted primarily in Oklahoma, California, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Utah, Arkansas, New Mexico and North Dakota. Offshore drilling operations are conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore of California, Trinidad and Equatorial Guinea. In 2008, the Company acquired TerraVici Drilling Solutions, Inc.

>>> Click Here For More Helmerich & Payne Analysis

NBR – Nabors Industries operates approximately 528 land drilling and approximately 763 land work-over and well-servicing rigs in North America. NBR’s offshore fleet consists of 37 platform rigs, 13 jack-up units and 3 barge rigs in the United States and multiple international markets. NBR also manufactures top drives and drilling instrumentation systems and provides oilfield hauling, engineering, civil construction, logistics and facilities maintenance and project management services.

Get Your Crude Oil Price Analysis Here

>>> Click Here For More Nabors Industries Analysis

NE – Noble Corporation is a leading provider of diversified drilling services for the oil and gas industry. The Company performs contract drilling services with its fleet of 63 mobile offshore drilling units located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Middle East, Mexico, the North Sea, Brazil, West Africa and India including five rigs under construction. NE has acquired five jack-up rigs and two semi-submersible rigs, plus the Company has options to purchase two additional premium jack-ups. In addition, NE has mobilized 9 jack-up rigs from the U.S Gulf of Mexico to international markets.

>>> Click Here For More Noble Analysis

PDE – Pride International is one of the largest drilling contractors which provides contract drilling and related services to oil and gas companies worldwide including West Africa (Angola), Latin America (Brazil), the Gulf of Mexico, the Middle East and India with a total of 44 rigs distributed as follows: West and South Africa: 2 ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned drill-ships, 1 deep water semi-submersible, 3 mid-water semi-submersibles, 1 jack-up rig and 1 managed deep water platform ; South America: 4 deepwater, dynamically positioned semisubmersibles and 3 mid water semi submersibles; U.S. – Gulf of Mexico: 14 jack-up rigs and 2 managed deep water platforms ; Mexico – Gulf of Mexico: 8 jack-up rigs; Middle East: 1 deepwater semisubmersible and 2 jack-up rigs; India: 2 jack-up rigs and under construction in Korea - 4 ultra-deep water drill-ships. For example, Pride Africa, a dynamically-positioned deepwater drillship operates in 10,000 ft. deep water and with drill depths to 30,000 feet.

>>> Click Here For More Pride Intl Analysis

RDC – Rowan Companies, Inc. is a major provider of international and domestic contract drilling services and utilizes a fleet of 22 jack-up rigs and 30 deep-well land rigs. Jack-up rigs are used for both exploratory and development drilling and depending on the particular rig and location, RDC have the capability of drilling to depths of up to 35,000 feet in water up to 550 feet deep.  Seven new jack-up rigs are under construction with delivery expected in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

>>> Click Here For More Rowan Companies Analysis

RIG – Transocean Ltd. is an offshore drilling contractor providing services from shallow water to the ultra-deepwater with 136 mobile offshore drilling units, plus an additional eight new-build rigs, 65 jack-up rigs and 68 drill-ships and semisubmersible rigs RIG provides drilling rigs for all types of petroleum companies in offshore drilling markets that include the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and eastern Canada, Brazil, the U.K. and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea, West Africa, Asia, including Australia, the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, India and the Mediterranean.

>>> Click Here For More Transocean Analysis

VTG – Vantage Drilling Company is a development-stage international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells who operate one ultra-premium jack-up rig in Southeast Asia and has three ultra-premium jack-up rigs under construction. VTG has an agreement to acquire 45% ownership in an ultra-deepwater drillship. In addition, VTG manages two ultra deepwater drill-ships and one ultra deepwater semi-submersible, all of which are under construction, pursuant to construction supervision and management agreements.

>>> Click Here For More Vantage Drilling Analysis

Author has no current investment in these stocks and provides only the who, what, where, why but not the when to invest which is up to the reader’s individual strategic stock trading plan.

Author Bio

Robert is a valued contributor to Self Investors and provides great insight into the oil industry.  He has 40 years of experience which includes oil/gas engineering in crude oil/petroleum products/natural gas, refining, processing and pipelines on all continents, except South America and Antarctica, from Alaska and Australia pipelines to S.E. Asia offshore, from UK North Sea to Los Angeles fuel truck racks and from Romanian pipelines to West Africa FPSO.

There are many companies involved in all aspects of the oil/gas industries but very few gain a significant market dominance. Some achieve this by acquisitions of various significant companies. Referring back to the last oil/gas industry perspective re: automation companies, an example of such acquisition is Emerson Process Control acquiring Rosemount instrumentation which has extensive, and some cases, an exclusive market within the industry. Similarly, with the two companies listed in this industry perspective. Their corporate history is too diverse to elaborate on in this brief article and hyperlinks are provided to their individual websites at each company name.

We should point out that Self Investors market specialist Tate Dwinnell has featured these companies but they are not currently included in the Model Portfolio.

Since all companies are categorized into industry groups, e.g. DRC – Diversified Machinery, there is no explanation as to the significance of each company within that industry group. The intent of this industry perspective is to increase the reader’s awareness in this respect.

Check out our new oil etf site

Major oil companies have installed so many of these companies’ products that they become standardized in that product. Consequently, due to standardized engineering, operation, maintenance and training any new project becomes a sole source for that product. A prime example would be centrifugal compressors on natural gas pipelines and jet pumps in refinery delayed coking process.

Dresser-Rand Group Inc.(DRC) is the global supplier of custom-engineered rotating equipment solutions for the applications in the oil, gas, petrochemical and process industries. The products and service applications include oil and gas production; high-pressure field injection, gas lift, and enhanced oil recovery; natural gas processing; gas liquefaction; gas transmission and storage; refining; petrochemical production; and general industrial markets, such as paper, steel, sugar, distributed power and United States Navy. The Company operates globally with manufacturing facilities in the United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, China and India. It operates a range of products and clients to the global client base in over 140 countries from the global locations in 18 US states and 26 countries.

DRC is a global leader in the turbo-machinery market, providing compressor and gas power turbine technology for the following primary industries: gas lift/injection, gas gathering/storage/transmission, ethylene, fertilizer, refineries and chemical production. Dresser-Rand has delivered in excess of 2000 gas turbine driver packages for generators and compressors world-wide. DRC also provides gas turbines which are used for base load and standby power generation applications. More than 900 of gas turbine units have been supplied into over 62 countries.

The concern about carbon dioxide emitted by traditional coal-fired power plants can be alleviated by the fairly new technology known as carbon capture and storage which offers a viable method to capture most of that carbon dioxide gas and store it underground. DRC has the technology to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by the carbon capture and storage process.

:::: >>> Get More Dresser-Rand Analysis Here

Flowserve Corporation (FLS) is a manufacturer and aftermarket service provider of comprehensive flow control systems. The Company is engaged in developing and manufacturing precision-engineered flow control equipment, such as pumps, valves and seals, for critical service applications. Through the manufacturing platform, the Company offers a range of aftermarket equipment services, such as installation, advanced diagnostics, repair and retrofitting. The Company operates in three business segments: flow serve pump division for engineered pumps, industrial pumps and related services; flow control division for engineered and industrial valves, control valves, actuators and controls and related services, and flow solutions division for precision mechanical seals and related products and services. In April 2009, the Company acquired CALDER AG.

In the oil and gas industry FLS has provided equipment for crude oil handling and treatment, heavy oil steam processing, sub-sea developments, water injection recovery and water handling and treatment. In the refining world they are involved with hydro-cracking, distillation, delayed coking, etc., for transportation – crude oil and petroleum products pipelines and gas processing involving LNG, NGL, GTL (gas to liquids) and natural gas processing/treatment. For these process applications FLS provides pumps, valves, seals, instrumentation, actuators and steam systems.

:::: >>> Get More Flowserve Analysis Here

Earnings Estimates

DRC                                              FLS

Please peruse the following DRC and FLS stock charts and refer to your strategic stock trading plan as to when to invest, if at all.

Author Bio

Robert is a valued contributor to Self Investors and provides great insight into the oil industry.  He has 40 years of experience which includes oil/gas engineering in crude oil/petroleum products/natural gas, refining, processing and pipelines on all continents, except South America and Antarctica, from Alaska and Australia pipelines to S.E. Asia offshore, from UK North Sea to Los Angeles fuel truck racks and from Romanian pipelines to West Africa FPSO.

There is a dominant stock investing theme that directs you to invest in companies that provide a product that everybody uses every day. May I draw your attention to a specific product in this category, namely asphalt? Unless your house has a tile roof, you probably woke up under an asphalt-tiled roof; walked to your car on an asphalt footpath; drove your car to work on an asphalt-surface highway or freeway; and parked your car in the asphalt-surface office car park.

In addition, President Obama is going to re-surface all of the US deteriorating freeways and highways – using asphalt of course.

You may wish to consider investing in some of the asphalt companies identified in this article. However, most asphalt involved companies are large conglomerates and certainly the asphalt producers are the major oil and gas conglomerates some of which are listed below.

If you have not even thought of where the asphalt comes from you should be aware that it is derived from crude oil refining which primarily produces your gasoline and diesel which you also use every day.

In order to be ready for road surfacing asphalt needs to be transported from the refineries to road construction companies that combine it with various rock aggregates to provide the hard surface that you drive on. This thick black substance is only liquid at temperatures above 300 degrees Fahrenheit and requires specially designed and dedicated trucks to transport the asphalt while maintaining its temperature. I have been involved with various refinery automation projects including asphalt truck loading racks where asphalt is sold by refinery truck weigh scales (weight out minus weight in) with computer controlled and data processing for product loading authorization and custody transfer accounting/ billing for each load.

If we have international readers you should be aware that we are talking about bitumen, but not tarmac or coal tar. Tar is derived from coal and was the original road surfacing material when it was available from coal gas processing which has long been replaced by natural gas. These coal tar roads date back to the early 1800’s when John McAdam started the road surfacing referred to as tarmac or macadam roads.

::  Be sure to check out our new Oil ETF portal

Apart from the major oil companies shown in group stock charts as asphalt producers there are a large number of privately- and publicly-owned companies involved in getting the asphalt onto the roads, or car parks, or roofs. Some of these non-private companies are listed here with a brief description and their earnings estimates. According to your personalized investing criteria listed in your Trading Plan you should evaluate and exercise your due diligence as to potential investment opportunities. This is who, what, where, why and how but not the when. At this time the author has no investments in any of these companies.

Alon USA Energy, Inc. (ALJ) operates as an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products primarily in the south central, southwestern, and western regions of the United States. ALJ has three segments: Refining and Marketing, Asphalt, and Retail. The Asphalt segment markets paving and roofing grades of asphalt, and performance-graded asphalts, emulsions, and cutbacks through its 12 refinery/terminal locations. Alon USA Energy, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alon Israel Oil Company,

Astec Industries, Inc. (ASTE) designs, engineers, manufactures and markets equipment and components used primarily in road building, utility and related construction activities. ASTE products are used in each phase of road building, from quarrying and crushing the aggregate to application of the road surface. The business segments are Asphalt Group, Aggregate and Mining Group, Mobile Asphalt Paving Group and Underground Group.

CRH plc (CRH) is an international building materials company, which manufactures and distributes building material products. The Company is organized into four divisions, two in Europe: Materials and Products & Distribution; and two in the Americas: Materials in the United States and Products & Distribution in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Chile and Argentina. Materials businesses are involved in the production of cement, aggregates, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete.

Holly Corporation (HOC) is an independent petroleum refiner, which produces light products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel. It owns and operates two refineries consisting of a petroleum refinery that is operated in conjunction with crude oil distillation and vacuum distillation and other facilities in New Mexico, and a refinery in Utah; owns approximately 900 miles of crude oil pipelines located principally in west Texas and New Mexico; owns and operates Holly Asphalt Company, along with other assets including approximately 1,700 miles of petroleum product pipelines located in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma; 10 refined product terminals; and two refinery truck rack facilities.

NuStar Energy L.P. (NS) provides storage and truck loading terminal services for crude oil and refined petroleum products to the producers of crude oil, integrated oil companies, chemical companies, oil traders and refiners. NS has five business segments: refined product terminals, refined product pipelines, crude oil pipelines, crude oil storage tanks and marketing. In March 2008, NS announced that it has completed its acquisition of CITGO Asphalt Refining Company’s asphalt operations and assets which is the primary reason for including them in this Asphalt article.

Terex Corporation (TEX) is a diversified global manufacturer of capital equipment for the construction, infrastructure, quarrying, surface mining, shipping, transportation, refining and utility industries.

Vulcan Materials Company (VMC) is a producer of construction aggregates, primarily crushed stone, sand and gravel, a producer of asphalt and concrete and a producer of cement in Florida. The Company operates through three segments: Aggregates, Asphalt mix and Concrete, and Cement.

If you are familiar with other listed asphalt handling companies the author and the readers would appreciate knowing about them via the comments input section below

Author Bio:

Robert Williams 40 plus years experience includes oil/gas engineering in crude oil/petroleum products/natural gas, refining, processing and pipelines on all continents, except South America and Antarctica, from Alaska and Australia pipelines to S.E. Asia offshore, from UK North Sea to Los Angeles fuel truck racks and from Romanian pipelines to West Africa FPSO.

One quick and easy way to invest is Brazil’s ETF EWZ. See the chart below as to why the timing may be about right to invest in this ETF.

Another way to invest in these projected Latin American economic developments is to buy shares of Brazil’s state-controlled oil company (Petroleo Brasileiro Sa Petrobras ADR – PBR).  (Tate Dwinnell Edit: I’d like to add that that while PBR is a great long term idea, in my opinion it’s overbought after nearly doubling off the lows.  I recently took profits on a position in this and am looking to get back in on a return to around the 50 day moving average around 24 – 25)

PBR’s Tupi field may contain as much as 8 billion barrels of oil and natural gas, an amount that could boost the country’s reserves by 62 percent. Recent news releases indicate that crude oil production from the Brazilian offshore fields Tupi, Guara and Iara is commercially viable, even below $40 per barrel oil price. Oil production from Brazil’s massive new oil fields, which are in very deep water and buried beneath a thick layer of salt could start producing at 14,000 barrels of oil a day within second quarter 2009. The first full production phase of Tupi, using a floating production, storage and offtake vessel (FPSO) pumping 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2010 has already been sanctioned with a budget of $3.7 billion. Additional FPSO’s will be added up to a maximum of 10 vessels eventually producing up to 1 million BOPD. 40 trillion cubic feet of gas present in the offshore oil fields will allow peak gas production from Tupi alone of 1 billion cubic feet a day,

The Tupi field is located approximately 200 miles off the coast of the State of São Paulo and at over 6000 feet of water depth, with well depths of nearly 15,000 feet.

Major capital investments are required for oil development if you consider that 10 FPSO’s are required at $3.7 billion each with ultra deep subsea well drilling adding additional costs. However, the ultra deep sea technology is well established for Gulf of Mexico, offshore Nigeria and other global developments.

Brazil’s major offshore discoveries present geo-political and economic considerations since the light crude oil is much more desirable for US and Brazil’s refineries than the heavier crude oil produced by Venezuela and Brazil.

There is a third way to invest in Brazil’s oil and gas economic development which provides global diversification in the oil and gas industry covering oil, natural gas and LNG. This is UK-based BG Group with a 25 percent stake in Brazil’s offshore fields.

BG Group plc (OTC:BRGYY; BG -London) has operations in UK, Italy, Kazakhstan, Norway, Algeria, Libya, Madagascar, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Egypt, India, Israel, Palestine, Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, Thailand, Tunisia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Alaska, Chile, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. On November 14, 2008, BG Group acquired a 90% interest in Queensland Gas Company Ltd.

BRGYY just released record earnings up 74% with a dividend increase of 20%. The earnings press release identified “strategic progress in Australia and Brazil that will support BG Group’s growth over the next two decades.”

See more on oil trading and ETFs at Oil ETF Central

Author Bio: Robert Williams 40 plus years experience includes oil/gas engineering in crude oil/petroleum products/natural gas, refining, processing and pipelines on all continents, except South America and Antarctica, from Alaska and Australia pipelines to S.E. Asia offshore, from UK North Sea to Los Angeles fuel truck racks and from Romanian pipelines to West Africa FPSO.

For more on oil and oil etfs see our sister site Oil ETF Central

THE DUMBEST TAX POLICY YOU COULD POSSIBLY SUPPORT

Oil is skyrocketing… and Chevron and Exxon should be making outrageous profit margins. So let’s tax those “windfall” profits! But… hold on a minute…

From March 2007 to March 2008, Exxon’s profit margin was just 10%. Meanwhile, its income tax rate was about 43%.

Compare this with Microsoft: Microsoft’s profit margin was over 28%. And Microsoft’s tax rate was under 30%.

Microsoft makes a much bigger profit margin than Exxon. And it’s taxed way less. Heck, if anyone deserves an “excess profits tax,” it’s Microsoft, not Exxon, right?

Do you think Microsoft’s Office software is outrageously expensive? And if so, is the right solution to tax Microsoft more? Does that fix the problem for consumers?

Right now, people just want to hear that the government is doing something to fix high gas prices. Many people naively believe the gas stations and Big Oil companies like Exxon are gouging them.

But calling for a windfall tax on Big Oil is among the dumbest policies you can possibly support… and there are a lot of dumb ones to consider.

For more on Oil Prices and Oil ETF Trading see our sister site Oil ETF Central

Check Out Our New Oil ETF Portal

We import the most from Canada.  Notice the increase in imports from Iraq and the decrease from Venezuela.. not too surprising.
Resource: Energy Information Administration