Oil Update

So I managed to scare up an MBA to comment on the Petroleum Bonanza of Riches. Phil quotes this article and writes:

"With oil futures above $60 a barrel for much of the
third quarter, Exxon's profits from petroleum
exploration and production increased by $1.8 billion
to $5.7 billion. Soaring prices for gasoline, diesel
and jet fuel lifted refining and marketing profits by
$727 million to $2.13 billion."

So, my take on this is that Exxon has a lot of fixed
costs associated with production, such that when
prices rise per barrel their E&P business makes a
killing.

Their downstream businesses are also making money. I
suspect this is because there are a lot of fixed costs
(e.g., real estate) associated with gas stations.
Yeah, there are a lot of variable costs (namely the
gasoline and it's distribution), but there is still
room for more profits based on the fixed component of
the costs.

In the same article it describes about $100k that they
expect to lose as a result of the hurricane though
some of this may be offset by insurance claims).
Clearly, this is not enough to offset the gains.

Clearly.

So, while I still don't understand the fundamentals of the business, I'm getting closer. It looks like the majority of the profit came from increases in their own exploration and production, where oil is selling for twice what it sold for back in the day. So here's my question, how much of the total crude oil that ExxonMobil eventually sells comes from their own wells compared with what they have to buy.

Wish I knew an accountant that was familiar with the financial statements of oil and gas companies...