Poor Oil Companies

So did you really think that high prices for crude oil meant that the net profit for oil companies would stay the same? I'm talking about their margin - take their gross income and subtract their costs and that is their margin, their net profit.
One might think rising crude oil prices being passed to consumers wouldn't really change the net profit of oil companies, right? Not so. A couple of stats of the oil companies (from an e-mail from the WSJ - can't link to a subscription e-mail, sorry):

• Exxon Mobile - first-quarter net earnings surged by 44%
• Shell Group - first-quarter net earnings rose 40%
• Unocal Corp. - first-quarter profits (net) jumped 69%
  

Perhaps the oil business isn't as bad as we were led to believe.