Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Exxon Mobil Rises To Top Of Fortune 500
Chart: Shows big jump in Onshore drilling in Louisiana.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
by J.W. ELPHINSTONE
NEW YORK -- Skyrocketing energy prices propelled Exxon Mobil Corp. to the top of the 2006 Fortune 500 list, and consigned Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to the No. 2 spot on the magazine's annual ranking of the nation's largest publicly traded companies.
Fortune compiled its list based on companies' 2005 revenue. Exxon Mobil raked in $340 billion in revenue, a 25.5 percent increase from 2004, and had $36.1 billion in profits, the most by any U.S. company in history.
Other oil producers also rose in the rankings, boosted by crude prices that topped $70 a barrel and gasoline prices that surpassed $3 a gallon after hurricanes battered the Gulf Coast.
Both ChevronTexaco Corp. and ConocoPhillips saw their revenue jump in 2005, increasing by 28 percent and 37 percent, respectively.
