Americans spend a lot of money on oil: about $632 billion a year. And the big oil producers report eye-popping annual profits, like ExxonMobil's $41 billion in 2011. Numbers like that may make you feel like we're getting robbed at the pump ... but it's not that simple.
Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips are all trading near multi-year highs, and even BP shares have done well recently. Still, while the high oil prices that have been pinching consumers have been great for the industry, there are good reasons not to count on those high stock values lasting.
American companies have a golden opportunity to expand the country's top spot globally. Industry leaders meeting in New York laid out the huge opportunity but also warned that red tape and a relative scarcity of skilled personnel threaten to stifle efforts to build this clean-energy source.
Halliburton shares climbed 2.8% in recent premarket trading after the oilfield services company said Monday its second-quarter net income climbed 83% to $480 million, or 53 cents a share, from $262 million, or 29 cents a share a year ago.
