Oil industry expected to announce profits

Big oil industry players are poised to announce their second quarter result this month, with huge profits expected from most.

However, with economies around the world still struggling to recover from the financial crisis and soaring fuel prices hitting the public purse, the announcements are unlikely to be popular.

The biggest boost to profits is the increase in oil prices, rising from $78.05 (£47) a barrel in the second quarter of 2010, to $102.34 this year.

Furthermore, Wall Street analysts expect the upcoming results to show an increase of between 30 to 60 per cent, Mysanantonio.com reported.

Big Oil will be the first of the oil industry companies to report on profits, followed by BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Chevron later this week.

"We expect Big Oil to be rolling in huge second-quarter profits with money that came out of families' wallets from higher gasoline prices," Daniel Weiss, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress in Washington, told the source.