AP – Exxon Mobil’s profit declined in its first quarter as natural gas prices fell and industry refining margins dropped.
The energy company earned USD8.22 billion, or USD2.06 per share, for the three months ended March 31.
A year earlier it earned USD11.43 billion, or USD2.79 per share.
The results didn’t meet Wall Street expectations, but Exxon does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as assets sales. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research were expecting earnings of USD2.19 per share.
Shares slipped 2.7 per cent before the market open on yesterday.
The Spring, Texas-based company’s revenue totaled USD83.08 billion, down from USD86.56 billion a year earlier. Wall Street forecast revenue of USD86.6 billion.
Production in Guyana reached more than 600,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day, a higher-than-expected level, the company said.
Exxon went on a bit of a shopping spree last year when oil prices were surging.
In July, the company said it would pay USD4.9 billion for Denbury Resources, an oil and gas producer that has entered the business of capturing and storing carbon and stands to benefit from changes in US climate policy.
In October Exxon topped that deal by announcing that it would buy shale operator Pioneer Natural Resources for USD60 billion.
Two months later, the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces federal antitrust law, asked for additional information from the companies about the proposed deal.
The request is a step the agency takes when reviewing whether a merger could be anticompetitive under US law. Pioneer disclosed the request in a filing in January.
Elevated levels of cash for all big producers drove a massive consolidation in the energy sector. In October Chevron said it would buy Hess Corp for USD53 billion.
Oil markets are being stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia, and the war between Israel and Hamas still potentially runs the risk of igniting a broader conflict in the Middle East.
While attacks on Israel do not disrupt global oil supply, according to an analysis by the US Energy Information Administration, “they raise the potential for oil supply disruptions and higher oil prices”.
