Our oily corporate masters — ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron — just keep getting richer

There’s a (you pick ’em) fascinating/infuriating/“what’d you expect?” story from ThinkProgress today on how oil companies are doing. Turns out our ultimate corporate masters are doing OK, in case you were worried. While the rest of us are being gouged to the tune of $4 per gallon, you may be interested to know that the nation’s top five oil companies — ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron — made a combined profit of nearly 1 trillion dollars (that’s $1,000,000,000,000) during the last 10 years. The story continues, reporting that the current spike in oil prices is predicted to lift ExxonMobil’s earnings by 50 percent. Details:

First-quarter crude prices averaged about $100 a barrel, or about 20% higher than a year ago, pushed upward by oil-supply concerns due to political unrest in the Arab World and a recovering global economy. That spike is expected to lift earnings by about 50% at Exxon Mobil Corp., and about 33% each at Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips, compared with a year earlier.

DailyKos reminds us, too, that despite the oil companies’ obscene, and ever-growing earnings, the U.S. House thinks their loyal campaign fund contributors could always do a little better. That’s no doubt why House Republicans voted last month to keep billions in subsidies that the oil behemoths get from the feds every year. Hey, let’s let those old-timers on Medicare get us out of debt but whatever you do, don’t turn off the Congressional money tap.

Here’s a handy chart showing you just how much our oily overlords throw to its minions in the House, by party.

This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2011.