Australian families have helped to drive Shell into the record books, after the oil giant posted a $A35.5 billion profit. 

Motoring group NRMA said the company owed a thank you note to Australian motorists, after it turned a profit of almost $4 million every hour of last year. 

Shell's full-year net profit came in at $A35.5 billion globally, in an all-time record for a European company. "Shell is a very rich company today and when they're allowed to charge Australian motorists whatever they want for petrol it's not hard to see why." NRMA motoring and services president Alan Evans said. 

Aussies Drive Shell To Record Profit

meanwhile ….. 

Exxon Mobil Corp. posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — on Friday as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at the end of the year. Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005. 

The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil had in 2006.