The good news for women in business is that the gasoline prices have dropped a little bit.  The bad news is the oil companies have made billions of dollars in profits.

Take Exxon Mobil Corp. for example.  The company broke its own record for the highest quarterly profit for a U.S. company on Thursday, joining other major oil companies in posting stronger earnings on the back of sky-high oil prices.

Exxon’s second-quarter net income rose 14 per cent to $11.68 billion.

HERE ARE A FEW FACTS ABOUT THE COMPANY’S RECORD HAUL:

- Exxon earned more than $128 million a day, or nearly $1,500 every second during the quarter. The company said that was after it paid $4,100 a second in taxes and $14,700 a second in expenses to run the business.

- Exxon’s quarterly earnings were slightly larger than the annual gross domestic product of Afghanistan, which was $11.63 billion in 2007, according to the World Bank.

- With Exxon’s quarterly profit, one could potentially buy Gap Inc., Ford or Starbucks, which have market capitalizations of $11.67 billion, $10.76 billion and $10.69 billion, respectively, according to Reuters data.

- $11.68 billion could buy roughly 179,692 new Cadillac Escalades, or 15.57 billion individual Snickers chocolate bars.

It could also wipe out hunger around the world and take care of the entire baby boomer generation for the rest of our lives.