Exxon (NYSE: XOM) says it cannot make money in the retail gas business. So it is getting out. That raises the question of whether anyone in that part of the industry can make a profit. If not, where will consumers buy gas?

According to The Wall Street Journal, "The retail gasoline business "continues to be a very challenging market with reduced margins, and there is significant competitor growth," says Exxon spokeswoman Premlata Nair." Exxon will sell many of its stations to local owners. Why they will be able to do better than the oil giant is a mystery.

The reason Exxon is making the move is that gas prices have been rising more slowly than oil prices. The inability to move up what the consumer pays kills the stations' margins.

There may be another reason for the move, one that Exxon does not want to talk about. To get the gas station business financially healthy again may require a sharp increase in prices at the pump. Per gallon costs could spike up toward $5. Exxon, already criticized for its huge profits, does not need to add to that the public image of hurting the American consumer.

Why get beat up over a few bucks?

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that probes by the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission center on whether American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG), as well as its financial products division, which has been the source of controversy and profits, intentionally inflated the value of contracts linked to subprime mortgages.
• According to a person familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that South Korea's LG Electronics may consider a bid for General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) appliance business.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) will sell the remaining gas stations it owns to gasoline distributors, according to the Associated Press. However, the distributors will continue to pay to use the Exxon and Mobil brand names.
• Xinhua reported that MetLife Inc (NYSE: MET) is seeking permission from Chinese regulators to combine its two ventures in China. The insurer said it believes the move will allow it to compete more effectively in the Chinese market.

This post is part of a series on some of the most memorable companies that have disappeared.

Standard Oil (1870 - 1911) was the dominant oil company in the world until it was felled by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. John D. Rockefeller was a business genius of the first order. He used his control over train routes and refineries to buy up oil wells and block competitors from taking market share.

Thanks to journalist Ida Tarbell, Rockefeller's rough business tactics got plenty of publicity. In 1911, the Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil had violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act through its tactics of using low prices to wipe out competitors. The result, as chronicled in one of my favorite books, Ron Chernow's Titan, was a breakup of the company into what is now Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP).

The lesson: What didn't kill Standard Oil made its offspring stronger.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

Let us know in the comments what you miss about Standard Oil. And be sure to check out other Companies That Have Vanished.

Most Americans are giving their tax rebate to Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM). It should hardly be surprising that with oil at around $130 and the prices of most commodities used to make food doubling over the last year, the the money from Uncle Sam will not go for a new PlayStation.

The tax rebate was meant to stimulate the economy. Instead, it may be going to a fairly narrow group of companies including credit card firms and oil behemoths. That was hardly the plan, but, in an odd way, the government's program to get money to the consumer may be fueling inflation, at least in the energy sector.

The more the consumer spends on gas, the more likely it is that gas prices will stay high.

According to The New York Times, "Recent surveys underscore that many households are now too worried about the rising cost of driving and eating to spend freely, even as cash lands in their laps."

It is the law of unintended consequences at work, meaning that money back from the Treasury may do nothing to make the economy better.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson was under attack today as some members of the Rockefeller family tried to convince shareholders to split the chairman and CEO jobs. Tillerson won the battle, and at least for now, will continue to hold both positions for the oil giant.

As Zac Bissonnette noted Tuesday, Neva Rockefeller Goodwin and Peter O'Neill, descendants of John D. Rockefeller were the powering force behind today's proposed action, which wound up failing as only 39.5% of the company's shareholders voted to support the new changes. There were 4.4 billion votes cast in this years vote.

Last year, a similar proposal was put before a shareholder vote, with nearly an identical result of only a 40% approval for such a change.

BBC news reported Saturday that militants in Nigeria have again sabotaged oil transfer infrastructure belonging to Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS A). This is the fifth incident of such attacks in recent weeks. The BBC report states: "Several previous ones have been blamed on supporters of the militant leader Henry Okah, who is currently awaiting trial on treason charges."

A Shell Oil spokesperson is quoted as stating that multiple oil delivery lines are affected and that some amount of oil has spilled into the environment. The company is undertaking oil containment measures and production volume has been reduced. Reuters News Service reported: "...the rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) ... has already knocked 164,000 barrels a day off Shell's production in Nigeria with a pipeline bombing last month."

According to Reuters, local security forces are reporting that not just oil delivery lines have been affected. They claim that three oil wells and other equipment were also subjected to damage. Additionally, this news of sabotage comes on the heels of an eight day Nigerian labor strike against Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). That strike ended this past Thursday and had temporarily cut that company's Nigerian oil production in half. And of course, with oil supply problems and concerns, oil prices have increased.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) Q3 profits soared, beating analysts' expectations.
• Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) strong Q1 results met analysts' expectations.
• Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) reported solid Q3 results that beat Wall Street estimates.
• Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) beat expectations for the first quarter, sending shares up.
• Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) posted better-than-expected Q1 results on the weak dollar.
• Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) beat earnings expectations and raised its guidance.
• Corn Products International (NYSE: CPO) posted record sales for the ninth consecutive quarter.
• Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) Q1 profits met expectations but revenues beat them.
• ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) missed Q1 expectations due to narrower margins.
• Garmin Ltd. (NYSE: GRMN) reported lower-than-expected earnings due to slowed demand.
• General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) posted a smaller-than-expected loss for the first quarter.
• Herbalife Ltd. (NASDAQ: HLF) posted Q1 results and announced the resignation of the president and COO.
• Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) beat Q1 expectations and announced a 10% dividend increase.
• Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) Q1 profits declined but beat analysts' expectations.
• Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) reported better-than-expected Q1 results and raised its 2008 outlook.

Next week is sure to be filled with fun and volatile market conditions. The highlight will be the Fed decision on key rates, due on Wednesday, April 30, following a two-day meeting. Anytime the Fed has the floor, the markets listen. Tuesday and Wednesday will be filled with speculation up until the time of the announcement of a cut or pause.

There are many possible outcomes for this meeting, as we have seen a substantial change in investor sentiment regarding the potential need for further rate cuts. The buzz on the street is for a cut of 25 basis points and then a wait-and-see attitude from there. I think that is the most likely direction.

There has been a great deal of concern that all the recent rate cuts have not provided the benefit to consumers the economy needs. Clearly, there is a fatty clog within our financial circulatory system. Traditionally, the Fed likes to see how its actions trickle into the economy before it continues too far down one path, which would argue for a pause now. Plus, the Fed does not want to run out of ammunition by cutting rates too far too fast. But there is no question that we are dealing with a more aggressive Fed than we have seen in decades, so I think we will see another small rate cut.

The Scene Is Set: Almost two months ago, Exxon(NYSSE:XOM) acknowledged that its 2007 profits were the highest ever recorded by a publicly-traded company. A few weeks later, the House of Representatives responded to Big Oil's gargantuan profits by passing a bill that would redirect the $18 billion in tax breaks currently enjoyed by the oil industry into companies that are developing renewable energy resources. The bill has been shot down in the Senate, and President Bush has promised to veto it if it ever comes across his desk.

Tuesday witnessed the next step in the drama. Representatives of the top five oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell(NYSE:RDS.A), BP(NYSE:BP), Chevron (NYSE:CVX)and Conoco Phillips(NYSE:COP) appeared before Congress to explain their record profits amid the growing gas crisis. The stage was ready, and the tension was palpable...

As Mel Brooks once said, "It's good to be the king." I often fantasize being a politician just for what it's worth after leaving office. We learned this week that Al Gore is now at least a centi-millionaire -- yes, he's worth over $100 million. That's a lot of global warming tacos.

An interesting exclusive article on Bloomberg.com is titled, "Pfizer, Exxon Find U.S. Justices as Shareholders May Cost Them." The premise of the article is that Supreme Court Justices' ownership of stocks occasionally requires them to side-step rulings, like this week's deadlock that allowed lawsuits over Pfizer's Rezulin diabetes drug. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts owns the stock and needed to sit on the sidelines.

The same article cited Mark Herrmann, a product-liability lawyer at Jones Day in Chicago, as saying, "If you're on the industry side, it kills you that Roberts recused himself. That's your fifth vote.''

Bloomberg cites stocks either currently held or sold from in Chief Justice Roberts portfolio. They are:

Lawyers for the Venezuela state-owned oil company PDVSA are back in court in London. They are trying to convince a judge there that the $12 billion that Exxon (NYSE: XOM) has seized through the courts in exchange for its assets that have been nationalized is excessive.

According to Reuters, "PDVSA lawyer Gordon Pollock said the amount frozen was excessive. He said a claim that PDVSA would try to hide its assets was not credible and the English court which awarded the freeze had exceeded its jurisdiction." PDVSA's argument is based partially on a theory that the calculation Exxon has used for reparations sets the face value of its property too high.

The legal challenge from Hugo Chavez's government has one significant flaw. His country has no right to take the Exxon assets in the first place. There would be no court hearing at all if Venezuela had not violated international law.

Several courts have agreed that the $12 billion in PDVSA overseas assets that Exxon has been able to seize is based on rational calculations. If the Venezuelan government does not want to pay fair value, then it should give the property back or reap the financial whirlwind.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

As I fully expected, I've received a fair amount of comments on a recent blog post in which I proudly took a stance in favor of Exxon's court backed demand that the government of Hugo Chavez immediately ante up for the oil infrastructure which the country he leads has stolen from Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). Most of the commentary was lucid and well thought out on both sides of the argument, but one particular commenter really piqued my sense of intrigue.

The comment I'm referring to was an assertion that what the Chavez government has done by seizing the Cerro-Negro oil development is legal. For the purpose of this rebuttal, and because I am near totally ignorant of international law, I'm going to assume that comment was correct. Now, here comes the Devil's Advocate:

You may file this under: It's about time.

I've been patiently waiting for something to be done regarding the seizure of Venezuelan oil infrastructure by communist dictator Hugo Chavez. It appears that time has come, with the help of Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). As reported by Reuters, approximately $12 billion in Venezuelan assets have been frozen. It's just too bad that John F. Kennedy isn't still around. He'd have already parked an armada of gunboats a mile off the sunny shores of Venezuela. There's a limit to the amount of guff we should take from an out-of-control communist dictator.

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) beat estimates and said the 787 Dreamliner was on schedule.
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) fourth-quarter profits fell on rising fuel costs.
• Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) profits fell due to rising costs of raw materials.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) posted the largest annual and quarterly profit ever by a U.S. company.
• Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) beat earnings expectations due to strong international growth.
• Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) posted record earnings for the third quarter on demand for fuel efficiency.
• JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) posted a narrower-than-expected loss.
• Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY) posted strong results due in part to U.S. sales of the Rogue.
• Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) fourth-quarter profit surged, leading to its best yearly results ever.
• Paraexel International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) beat estimates and offered revised guidance.
• Ratheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) posted strong fourth-quarter results and offered optimistic guidance.
• RightNow Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RNOW) posted a loss, though revenues were up.
• Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) posted solid results on TV sales and the game division's return to the black.
• Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) posted solid results despite the housing slump due to strength overseas.
• United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) met earnings estimates due to a pension-related charge.
• US Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) fourth-quarter and full-year profits declined on acquisition costs and job cuts.
• Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) beat expectations despite a profit decline of 49%.

For additional BloggingStocks earnings highlights, see Yahoo!, Google, Amazon, Countrywide, Merck, UBS and others and McDonald's, Kraft, P&G, Verizon, MasterCard, 3M and others.

While Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) reported a fall off in fourth-quarter earnings today, Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) are scheduled to report their fourth-quarter results tomorrow morning. Here's a quick peek at these two companies.

Chevron missed earnings expectations in the past two quarters. When it reported third-quarter results back in November, its earnings per share of $1.97 missed the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial by ten cents. Earnings were $2.29 per share in the same period of the previous year. For the current quarter, analysts expect earnings of $2.24 per share, or $8.36 per share for the full year. That's up from $7.93 for 2006.

Chevron's 29.1% earnings per share growth forecast for the next three to five years is a bit more than the industry average, as well as the S&P 500. The analysts' consensus recommendation is to hold Chevron. Shares are down from the 52-week high of $95.50 back in September, and closed Thursday at $83.22.

For oil prices and other news that could influence the earnings results, see BloggingStocks' Chevron coverage.