I don't fault the oil companies. Their profit margins (around 8%) are lower than most other large industrial companies. If I could only make 8% in my industry, my boss would have shown me the door long ago.

So, if you maintain the same profit margin and the price of your commodity skyrockets, and there is no significant decrease in demand - you're net profits will go up. It's inevitable, and simply a product of the numbers.

Here's another way to look at it - if the oil companies aren't making a profit, there's no way they can invest in future projects that are necessary to insuring that they can continue to be in business, and continue to provide us with the energy we so desperately need. But, let's ignore that and assume that the oil companies have decided to forgo all profits and operate at a break-even. Furthermore, let's assume that 100% of that $11.68 billion of profit came from the US (when in truth, these are international corporations and less than half of their profits originate here).

So, $11.68 billion profit per quarter. There are 300 million people in the US, throw out 50 million that are underage or don't buy gasoline for other reasons, that leaves us with 250 million people.

$11.68 billion divided by 250 million = $46.72 per person per quarter, or about $15.50 per month.

That means that with all the assumptions above, if Exxon suddenly decided to operate at a break-even, thereby ensuring their own demise, it would save you about $15.50 per month. Personally, I would rather pay the $15 and know that I'm still gonna have heat in ten years.