Exxon to exit U.S. retail gas business.

There's been rumblings lately that service stations can't make money. Hmm, gas thefts up, gas consumption slightly down, risk of having too much expensive gas when it goes down the next day: up.

Yeah, I guess gas retailing may be less profitable now. Since Exxon surely has SOME idea where the retail market is going in the next several months/years, I presume it makes sense for them.

Wonder if they are expecting mayhem ahead... mayhem that goes beyond a 10-20% drop in profits.

 

yepper....oil companies doing what they do best.

screwing us...oh in this case its the independent local operator trying to make a living

 

Have they started thinking about how gas stations can sell electricity? If I had an all-electric vehicle, I wouldn't take it on a vacation trip without knowing that I could roll off the highway at almost any point and "refuel" it with electricity, like I can today with gasoline. Maybe they're waiting to see which battery technology wins so they know what if any kind of quick-charge equipment they would need. I guess the point is that even if gas stations lose their profitability there will still be a niche for some kind of filling station.

 

isnt exxon mobil the number one most profitable oil company in the world? where the bleep are they selling the gas to make those exorbitant profits? door to door? no............gas stations. so where are they going to sell it at if they sell their stations??

 

Reality check time...

The major oil companies currently own less than 5% of the gas stations. The fact that Exxon is selling the ones it actually owns is not a very significant news story.

They are selling 820 stations that they own and operate. They are also selling land under an additional 1400 that where they own the land but don't operate the gas stations. (In other words they are franchises and the actual gas station business is owned by individuals who rent the land from Exxon).

The other 9000 or so Exxon franchise gas stations are unaffected.

 

Price volatility in gas stations has gotten to be ridiculous. The price changes daily according to the closing oil futures price the night before. Who is dictating the price to the stations? Probably the gas suppliers and the oil companies.

It's also clear the oil futures market is being manipulated by big financial institutions. Since the price of oil affects our whole economy and, now, the stock market, it looks like we are caught in a self-destructive cycle of greed. Time for the Government to step in--in a non-partisan way--for a change.

 

I suspect the oil companies are sucking up all the profits they can right now with the inflated oil prices, and investing in alternative energy sources--in a big way. You won't hear about it in the media until it has already happened. That's what the cigarette companies did when they saw the handwriting on the wall. They diversified.

 

Most petrol stations here have a general store attached, many have a bakery and/or a Subway or McDonald's in them and are open 24/7. Petrol is only there to attract you into the shop.

 

Thanks .... I got a chuckle out of that! ound:

... Brad

 

Other stations. Exxon doesn't care about who buys their wholesale gas., AFAIK.

I keep thinking there are shortages and protests expected and Exxon stations would be targets for protest since the name is also associated with big oil; IE the "greedy guys". And shortages mean limited or no profits, or even losses if severe. Gov't price fixing regulation could also kick the sNot out of whatever retail profits remain now.

 

There was a story on this last week about a guy who was getting out of the business because he 1. couldn't afford the lease any more and 2. Couldn't pay for the last shipment of gas that came in.

I do feel for them, OTOH there is a station near me that makes changes like they have a dart board in back with prices on it. It was from $3.99/gal on Wed to $4.19 on Thurs. I've seen it go up, down,up, down in the course of 2 days.