thestreet.com By TSC Staff 05/01/2003 08:34 AM EDT

ExxonMobil (XOM:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) saw profits surge in the first quarter thanks primarily to the war in Iraq. The company posted $63.8 billion in quarterly revenue.

The country's No. 1 oil company said earnings in the quarter were $7.04 billion, or $1.05 a share, up from $2.09 billion, or 30 cents a share, last year. Before various items the company earned 71 cents a share, a penny better than expected.

Like all oil drillers, Exxon's results were goosed by a 57% rise in the price of oil last quarter, to an average cost of about $34 a barrel. Along with the Iraqi invasion, civil unrest in Nigeria and a big strike in Venezuela also conspired to life prices.

On Wednesday, Exxon raised its quarterly dividend to 25 cents from 23 cents.

Thu May 1, 2003 08:05 AM ET

NEW YORK (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM.N , the world's largest publicly traded oil company, on Thursday said its first-quarter profit more than tripled, boosted by surging oil and gas prices.

The Irving, Texas, company reported first-quarter net income of $7.04 billion, or $1.05 a share, compared with net income of $2.09 billion, or 30 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

 RELATED ARTICLES Exxon Mobil - Venezuela Heavy Oil at Full SteamExcluding special items, Exxon posted earnings per share of 71 cents. On that basis, analysts forecast average earnings of 70 cents a share, according to research firm Thomson First Call.

Revenue rose to $63.78 billion from $43.39 billion in the prior-year quarter.

Supply concerns linked to the war in Iraq, a strike in Venezuela and civil unrest in Nigeria -- all key oil-producing nations -- sent crude oil prices up 57 percent in the first quarter, with benchmark West Texas Intermediate spot prices averaging $33.94 a barrel.

Natural gas prices more than doubled in the same period, driven by concerns about dwindling supplies and tight inventories.

As fears about major supply disruptions recede and the oil markets brace for potentially higher output from post-war Iraq, crude oil prices are likely to fall. That will temper the upstream, or exploration and production, earnings.

However, falling oil prices help reduce costs for refiners, which use crude oil to make jet fuel, heating oil and gasoline. With supplies already below five-year averages, many analysts expect prices and margins for oil products to remain high.

Shares of Exxon Mobil, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, closed Wednesday trade on the New York Stock Exchange at $35.20. During the first quarter, the stock was relatively unchanged, slightly underperforming the Standard & Poor's Standard & Poor's Integrated Oil & Gas index .GSPOILI which increased less than 1 percent in the same period.

By Ellen Beck <a href=www.upi.com>United Press International From the Science & Technology Desk Published 5/1/2003 7:45 AM

RESEARCHERS DECODE ANTHRAX GENE

A team led by the Institute of Genomic Research in Rockville, Md., has finished the genetic blueprint of Bacillus anthracis -- anthrax. B. anthracis, researchers say, differs very little from the common soil bacterium that is its near relative but the variations are enough to give it disease-causing properties. In comparing an isolate of the Ames strain of anthrax with two closely related bacteria, the researchers found in the 5,000 or more genes analyzed there were only about 150 significant differences. The researchers found a number of genes encoding proteins that B. anthracis might need to enter its host's cells, which could provide targets for drugs. Unlike its near relatives, B. anthracis possesses genes that give it the ability to thrive on protein-rich matter, such as the decaying animal bodies it frequently grows on, the scientists discovered.

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GEOLOGIST SAYS DIAMONDS HAVE OCEANIC ORIGIN

Materials that form diamonds mined in Guaniamo, Venezuela, originated on the ocean floor, says University of Toronto geologist, Professor Daniel Schulze. The diamond formation process begins, Schulze says when the mantle -- the interior layer between Earth's core and its crust -- forces lava up onto the ocean's floor. The lava then solidifies into a volcanic rock called basalt. When the basalt interacts with sea water, its oxygen composition changes. "The volcanic rocks are altered to form new minerals. Geological processes then thrust this altered basalt under the earth's continental plates where heat and pressure turn the basalt into eclogite -- beautiful red and green rocks that may contain diamonds, if carbon is present.

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FOR ANTS, SMELL IS BOSS

It's smell -- not brainpower -- that cause ants to carry out their organized existence -- along with a solid work ethic, say Stanford University biologists. They found when patroller ants returns to the nest, their distinctive body odor cues other workers to go out and forage for food. Associate Professor Deborah M. Gordon says since no one is in charge in the ant colony, the question is, "How does a worker know what to do?" In ant colonies, the queen only lays eggs and has nothing to do with running the place. An ant's antennae are fine-tuned to differentiate subtle smells produced by hydrocarbons -- a naturally occurring family of chemicals that includes such well-known compounds as methane and propane. Subtle changes in the concentration of hydrocarbons produce profound behavioral changes in ants, the researchers said. All ants in a colony share the colony's odor -- that's how they tell one colony from another -- but in harvester ants the team found a further subdivision. Different tasks -- such as foraging and patrolling -- smell different.

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NEW PIECE OF CELL GROWTH PUZZLE FOUND

Scientists at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research say in biology, cell size matters and they've linked cell growth to the ability to sense nutrients in the environment. This growth-triggering system, known as the mTOR pathway, is a complex of proteins that respond to nutrient cues. The researchers found a protein that helps regulate the mTOR pathway. GßL acts as a bridge stabilizing the interactions between two other proteins central to mTOR function. When GßL is absent or disabled, cells become insensitive to nutrient levels and grow abnormally, a possible cause of disease, the researchers said.

(EDITORS: For more information about ANTHRAX, contact Anne Oplinger, (301) 402-1663 or e-mail aoplinger@niaid.nih.gov. For DIAMONDS, Lanna Crucefix at (416) 978-0260, for ANTS, Dawn Levy, (650)725-1944 or dawnlevy@stanford.edu, and for CELL GROWTH, Kelli Whitlock, (617) 258-5183 or newsroom@wi.mit.edu.)

<a href=www.globes.co.il>globes.co.il/ Hadas Manor   1 May 03   13:05

Mul-T-Lock is about to enter new South American markets, as part of its plan to expand its international business by 30% to $9 million this year.

Mul-T-Lock plans to penetrate the market with its satellite locating system for vehicles using cellular telephones, vehicle protection and sophisticated alarm systems, to be sold to cellular companies; security doors, and monitoring centers for vehicle fleet management services.

Mu-T-Lock chairman and CEO Abraham Bahri told “Globes” on Tuesday that the company’s technology did not require the use of ground antennae, and was in high demand in new markets in Latin America.

Bahri said he had been negotiating deals for the past two years, and had recently concluded agreements with Honduras, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic in Latin America; Nigeria and Kenya in Africa; and Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Russia, and the Ukraine in Eastern Europe.

Mul-T-Lock’s strategic goal is to expand its exports to 50% of its total sales within three years. The company currently exports less than 10% of production. The company expects $9 million in sales in 2003, mostly by marketing its Skylock satellite locating systems.

Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on May 1, 2003

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 01, 2003 By: Bob Frobenius

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 22:59:09 -0500 From: Bob Frobenius bobfro@cox.net To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: subjective reporting?

Dear Editor: Coup April 11 ... your report was false and misleading, specifically designed to inflame and had no basis in true fact. All your reporting was hearsay and pure speculation on events that you or any one else cannot prove.

But you are more than willing to promote them as pure face when they are your speculation from a paranoid mind.

WE the American people do not believe in communist propaganda which YOU put out as fact. Which is a lie...

We will fight for Freedom, for all mankind ... not your Dictatorship of the people that you hold as correct. One person, one vote. Democracy is our way. You can go to Hell. And we will be more than happy to help you get there.

The people, all the people will create a world that excludes the types that exclude free speech; freedom of the press; one person, one vote; a free judiciary from creating a society that represents all the people not just YOUR beliefs.

Are you totally biased Yes, Yes Yes. Not anti-American you lie ... if you were for true Freedom you would read the Constitution of The United States Of America and realize that this document is the basis of YOUR Freedom whether you live in the Ukraine or Venezuela.

Real freedom for each man and woman ... under the law designed to protect each person.

Black white yellow or red ... your subjective reporting is designed to enslave people not free them.

An American reading your propaganda, Robert F. Frobenius II bobfro@cox.net 1910 East Crawford St. Salina, Kansas 67401

PS: All those not willing to put their names and addresses to their beliefs are cowards and deserve our pure distain.

VHeadline.com responds: Dear Robert ... it is totally frightening that you should believe that the Constitution of the United States of America should apply to a sovereign and independent nation such as Venezuela when the people of Venezuela ... yes, the people of Venezuela ... approved their own Constitution by democratic majority vote in a National Referendum  in December 1999.  My best guess, then, is that you are willing to enslave people exclusively to your subjective way of thinking rather than -- as guaranteed in the Venezuelan Constitution -- the right of all the Venezuelan people to decide their own destiny under a truly participative rather than representative democracy.  Therein lies the rub ... perhaps YOU should read the Venezuelan Constitution and, perhaps, adopt some of its better articles and resolutions to improve your own?

It may disturb you greatly -- and it should! -- to discover what your government in Washington has done in your name as a US citizen, but the fact remains that VHeadline.com Venezuela is indeed totally biased towards Venezuela and the positive future of its people ... if you find that subjective, then we're happy to live with our stated editorial policy just the same as the majority of USA newspapers will profess to a distinct bias to USA affairs and policies.  If this garners your distain, so be it!

In conclusion, as soon as you have gotten over your myopic umbrage against critique of your country's illegal and unethical involvements in Venezuela's domestic political and homeland security affairs, I suggest you clue yourself up to the undeniable fact that the Venezuelan Constitution does guarantee total freedom of information; including the freedom of opposition newspapers to rant obscenities against the legitimate President.  The Venezuelan Constitution guarantees the right of all Venezuelans ... and not just an elite minority as under previous presidencies ... to participate in the government of their own country.  This may, of course, be confusing to your totally subjective view of the outside world since you have elected to submit to a representative democracy where you pass the buck upwards to often-corrupt politicians to decide what is best for you and your fellow countrymen. 

To us, that is a sad, sad, sad reflection on USA today!