Oil companies rake in record profits in spite of falling production

RAW STORY

In spite of falling production, The Wall Street Journal predicts tomorrow that oil companies will report record earnings for 2005. Lower production and costly drilling operations have been more than offset by an enormous rise in crude prices, leaving the industry's top 70 producers with a 26% net increase in earnings this year.

The report by Bhushan Bahree (with contributions by Russel Gold and Jeffrey Ball,) also claims that 2006 will likely see a plunge in profits. Though the industry is currently sitting on huge cash reserves, experts are predicting dips in oil profits for 2006, based on rising costs and an anticipation of lower prices per barrel.