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It's not applicable to just the fossil fuel industry, there's growing sentiment among upcoming generations of voters that universal healthcare is by far and away popular, and we're seeing record profits within that industry.  You've identified the common motive for all companies behind why they want to make more profits, but it doesn't make sense for oil companies en masse to have larger than usual percentage margins of profit instead of simply larger increases of the overall number year over year due to expansion or market share.  In a competitive environment, profit margin percentages would normalize among competing companies in order to fight for more market share, at least if supply and demand are in play.
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Reasonable, but it's also a common trend among all corporations.  They exist to provide value for their shareholders, and the expectation levied upon them by the stock market is that the value growth will accelerate over time.