OCTOBER 27, 2006

The oil boom

High oil prices have caused spectacular results for the major oil companies in the last quarter with ExxonMobil reporting an astonishing profit of $10.48bn in the last three months, a figure which equates to $114m a day. It is the second highest highest profit recorded in a quarter, the record still being ExxonMobil's last quarter last year when the company made $10.71bn. Rival company Royal Dutch Shell posted a profit of $6.9bn. The results mean that Shell has now overtaken BP as Europe's largest energy company with a market valuation of $226bn, compared to BP's $224bn.

BP's third quarter profit was $6.9bn.

As a natural partner to car manufacturers and motor racing teams, the world's oil companies are already well-represented in the sport but there is no doubt that with such huge profits they could be doing more. At the moment Ferrari enjoys the support of Shell, McLaren has Mobil, Toyota has Exxon, Renault has Elf, Honda has a relationship with the Nippon Oil Corporation through its Eneos brand, BMW has a relationship with Malaysia's Petronas, Williams is partnered by Petrobras and by Castrol, a division of BP.