O&G executive earnings compared with others

Oil and gas company executives on April 1 argued at a congressional hearing that their record profits should be put into perspective of the sales and investments made in their industry. They said their earnings are typically in line with the average of other major U.S. industries.

Here are the combined 2007 earnings and revenues of five top companies in some major industries:

The pharmaceutical industry earned $48.24 billion on revenue of $230.64 billion, or 20.9 cents on the dollar. Companies included are Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc., GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Sanofi-Aventis SA and Novartis AG.

The oil and gas industry earned $123.29 billion on revenue of $1,460.20 billion, or 8.4 cents on the dollar. Companies included are Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, BP PLC, Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips.

The defense industry earned $15.5 billion on revenue of $229.59 billion, or 6.8 cents on the dollar. Companies included are Boeing Co., United Technologies Corp., Lockheed Martin Co., Honeywell International Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp.

—The Associated Press