exxon s profit is just six cents per gallon. governments by contrast grab 48 cents per gallon that s the average gas tax as charles pointed out, 66 cents in california. if anyone greedy and destructive, it is government. not that oil companies won t rip you off, if you let em. one way is to sell us things like high octane fuel, premium gas. people think premium is better. of course it is better. keeping your engine cleaner. when i put regular it runs out faster. i m a little conservative. i feel like it is safer to put in more premium. but it is not, it won t last longer. a few cars with high compression, high revving engineses need high octane gas. for 90% of the cars sold today, check your manual, high octane is no better, you are just wasting your money. finally, i don t mean to