New York (AFP) – ExxonMobil reported a dip in third-quarter profits Friday on lower earnings from its refining business, but the results were strong enough to enable nearly $10 billion in shareholder distributions. The big US oil company, which saw upstream oil production rise following its acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, pointed to the benefits of $11.3 billion in “structural cost savings” as a driver of the results. The oil giant returned $9.8 billion to investors in the three-month period, up from $9.5 billion in the second quarter. ExxonMobil lifted the dividend by four percent, in addition to making share repurchases.
Net profits in the third quarter were $8.6 billion, down 5.1 percent from the year-ago period. While earnings were higher in upstream and chemical products, ExxonMobil saw a big drop in energy products results due to weakened refinery margins. The company pointed to record oil and natural gas output in Guyana and strong results in the Permian Basin, a shale region in Texas and New Mexico.
Crude oil prices have fallen about 15 percent since the end of the second quarter, a dynamic that Chief Executive Darren Woods said reflected a market imbalance. “We’re seeing record levels of demand for oil, record levels for demand for products coming out of refinery, petroleum products,” Woods told CNBC. “But we also see a lot of supply in the world right now, and a lot of that supply is coming out of the US, and the unconventional developments that we have here in the US, and so it’s basically a supply-driven price environment right now.”
At Chevron, profits came in at $4.5 billion, down 31 percent from the year-ago level. Chevron’s earnings were also dented by lower refining margins, although it also enjoyed record oil and natural gas production from the Permian Basin. Chevron returned $7.7 billion to shareholders during the quarter, which the company said was a record.
Shares of ExxonMobil rose 1.9 percent in pre-market trading, while Chevron gained 2.0 percent.
© 2024 AFP
