BY FESTUS OKOROMADU
US oil giants, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, reported another quarter of heady profit at the weekend as both companies continued to direct large cash payments to shareholders.
Strong refining results offset the effect of lower crude prices in the first quarter compared with the year-ago period, lifting profits and enabling ExxonMobil to return $8.1 billion to shareholders and Chevron $6.6 billion in dividends and share repurchases.
“We’re delivering strong financial results and increasing cash return to shareholders,” said Chevron Executive Mike Wirth, pointing to a 65 percent jump in shareholder repayments compared with the year-ago period.
The results extend a bountiful period for the US oil giants in the wake of a global energy market roiled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both companies pointed to a hit from recent windfall profit taxes that deprived them of even bigger earnings.
Results in the 2022 period were lifted by spiking oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the most recent period, crude prices traded in the $70-a-barrel range for most of the quarter.
While that’s down from the spike in the 2022 period after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, crude prices remain at a fairly high level.
At ExxonMobil, first-quarter profits more than doubled to $11.4 billion, while revenues declined 4.3 percent to $86.6 billion.
Results in the year-ago period were dented by $3.4 billion in one-time costs connected to ExxonMobil’s withdrawal from the Sakhalin offshore oilfield following the invasion of Ukraine.
But while crude prices were down 23 percent compared with the 2022 quarter, production volumes of oil and natural gas rose 4.1 percent.
The oil giant’s integrated model — which makes it a consumer of crude at its network of petroleum refineries — meant it also benefited from lower oil prices in ExxonMobil’s energy products division.
Chief Executive Darren Woods said the company “is growing value by increasing production from our advantaged assets to meet global demand.”
Woods, in an interview on CNBC, described current market conditions as “fairly mixed,” noting that the industry is emerging from a seasonally moderate period as far as demand.
A key question will be the extent that demand rises in China as it reopens its economy.
In a “tight” market, “there’s not a lot of levers to pull on production,” Woods told the network.
At Chevron, profits rose five percent to $6.5 billion, while revenues fell 6.6 percent to $50.8 billion.
Chevron’s oil and gas production volumes fell due to asset sales and the end of a concession in Thailand.
The streak of massive profits by US oil giants has sparked criticism from President Joe Biden and others, who have urged petroleum producers to boost volumes in a period of elevated inflation rather than spend extra cash on dividends and share repurchases.
The first quarter included a negative $200 million hit for additional European taxes on the energy sector, ExxonMobil said.
Chevron, in turn, pointed to a $130 million tax hit due to an energy profits levy in Britain.
Shares of ExxonMobil rose 2.1 percent to $119.21, while Chevron dipped 0.7 percent to $165.71.
