More....about those pump prices

As we say ?gas pump words? under our breath as we fill up, and as the politicians sing for votes in the headlines, there are some things about all of this we never hear about.

EXCERPTS??.

Awash in billion-dollar profits from one of the greatest energy bonanzas in history, Big Oil has a problem: How to spend it?

"You have to remember that they are coming off a 20-year bear market. It was a big benefit to consumers, but pretty ugly for the oil companies," said Marshall Adkins, an industry analyst with Raymond James in Houston.


The great bear oil market was born in the mid-1980s, when Saudi Arabia, in a bid to defend market share from upstart producers, flooded the market with crude, sending prices from $35 a barrel to $10 and paving the way for a generation of cheap oil, big cars, and a booming, fossil-fuel-driven economy.


But the good times came at a cost.


"During that time, the energy infrastructure deteriorated. The oil companies took on more debt, became more leveraged. But that's reversed over the past five years. For the first time ever, global oil demand caught up with supply and that line was crossed. That's why you're seeing oil prices where they are today," Adkins said.

With a steadily rising tide of cash flowing in, the first order of business has been for them to improve their balance sheets by paying down debt. According to data from researcher John S. Herold, the top three U.S. companies have done just that. From 2002 to 2005, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips' aggregate debt has dropped 20% from $36.7 billion to $29.2 billion.

Full article: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B8D645840-D331-47F0-B7EA-00385F8FA54B%7D&siteid=google