NEW YORK (AP) — Exxon
Mobil has bumped Wal-Mart from first place among the Fortune 500 top
revenue-generating U.S. companies thanks to rising oil prices.
Fortune Magazine released its annual list on Monday.
Oil
producers saw some of the biggest revenue increases as a rebellion in
Libya and high demand worldwide pushed oil prices higher. The price of
benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil soared 19 percent. Brent
crude, which helps set the price of foreign oil varieties, surged 38
percent between 2010 and 2011.
Revenue rose for Exxon Mobil Corp.,
based in Irving, Texas, even though the company struggled with lower
production and high refining costs. It earned $41 billion last year on
revenue of $486 billion.
Now at No. 2, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
reported 4 percent lower earnings in its latest fiscal year: net income
of $15.7 billion on revenue of $446.95 billion. Higher expenses squeezed
profits as the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant also looked for ways to
lower prices.
Two other petroleum companies — Chevron and ConocoPhillips — ranked next behind Wal-Mart.
Rounding
out the top 10 were automaker General Motors Co., industrial and
banking giant General Electric Co., Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
Inc., mortgage provider Fannie Mae, Ford Motor Co. and technology giant
Hewlett-Packard Co.
Hewlett-Packard is new to Fortune's top 10 this year, knocking out Bank of America, which fell to No. 13.
Bank
of America's revenue has been hit on several fronts by a combination of
a weak economy and new regulations that cut how much the bank could
collect in credit card and checking account fees. It earned $1.4 billion
last year on revenue of $94.4 billion.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.