Big Oil Gets Bigger

Exxon releases it's first quarter earnings:

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly profit surged, driven by rising oil prices.

Net income in the first quarter was $8.4 billion, or $1.37 a share, up from $7.86 billion, or $1.22 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue jumped to $88.98 billion from $82.05 billion.

ConocoPhillips also had a big quarter. Boy, you sure hate to see big companies suffer like that.

Meanwhile, in Bee County, TX, a local judge is calling for a boycott of Exxon/Mobil products:

Bee County judge Jimmy Martinez is asking for a boycott and has pushed a major county resolution encouraging citizens of Beeville, about 90 miles Southeast of San Antonio, to not get their fuel at Exxon-Mobil stations.

“We're in a crisis. This is absolutely a crisis,” Judge Jimmy Martinez tells News 4 WOAI. “Our families and our country are suffering from this.”

The Bee County judge says he’s had enough and has decided to take a stand.

“This is hurting not only the convenience stores, but its hurting our restaurants, its hurting our economy,” says Martinez. “It's hurting everyone.”

Starting Monday, Martinez wants people to stop buying gas at the Exxon stations until the price goes back down to $1.30 a gallon.

Boycotts are silly, and as I said yesterday, they won't hurt Exxon. They'll simply sell their gas to other distributors and probably make more money in the process. The only one likely to get hurt is the local Texan who owns the three Exxon stations in Bee County.

Leticia Munoz owns all three of the Exxon/Mobil stations in Bee County, and says she’s feeling the pinch just like her customers.

“My cost of my fuel has gone up, double in the last six months or so,” says Munoz. “Yes there is a lot of frustration. Not just from my customers, but for me personally.”

Munoz says gas sales make up between 20% and 30% of her revenue. It isn’t a majority, but says if the boycott works, it could make a difference.

“Hopefully our customers will continue to shop and come into the store. I don't want to lose any sales, over something I have no control over,” she tells News 4 WOAI. Munoz’s employees say the boycott is wrong, and not the right way to go about getting change.

"What I’m concerned about, is everything that comes with the boycott,” says Maria Gonzales. “Who's going to pay our bills if they give us the layoff, or lower our hours?”

If the boycott results in local residents losing their jobs, how dumb is that?