Industry earnings

ExxonMobil's earnings need to be viewed in the context of the scale of our industry, as well as the huge investment requirements.

• In the third quarter of 2009 the oil and gas industry earned, on average, about 5.4 cents per dollar of sales — slightly below the average of 7.1 cents per dollar revenue for "All Manufacturing."
• In a commodities business earnings rise and fall in cycles. 
• Over 80 percent of ExxonMobil’s earnings in 2008 came from outside the U.S. Over the past three years oil and gas production has generated more than two-thirds of ExxonMobil's earnings.