I heard a news story earlier this week, that while the profits sound huge, they are actually in line with many non-oil companies when you look at other measurements such as earnings per share, earnings per dollar invested in capital, etc.

>http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/01/news/companies/exxon/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories
>
>Exxon Mobil Corp. Thursday reported the biggest annual profit on record for a U.S. corporation - earning more than $75,000 every minute of 2006 on the back of record oil prices.