Including the loss from abandoning its Russian operations, the oil giant reported earnings of $1.28 per share on Friday, lower than analysts had expected.
Exxon Mobil reported $5.48 billion in profit for the first quarter as oil and gas prices rose steadily, more than doubling its profit compared to the same quarter last year.
But the oil giant took a huge hit by abandoning its Russian operations due to the war, netting $3.4 billion.
Including that loss, the oil giant reported earnings of $1.28 a share on Friday, well below the expectations of analysts surveyed by Factset, who were looking for $2.23 a share.
Revenue for the Irving, Texas company was $90.5 billion, which far exceeded the $59.15 billion of revenue in the same quarter a year earlier.
The price of oil rose steadily in the first quarter after Russia invaded Ukraine, causing European countries that rely heavily on Russia for energy and others to scramble to find alternative fuel sources. A barrel of benchmark US crude rose from $76 to nearly $130 before ending the quarter at $100, with drivers filling up on increasingly expensive gasoline.
Natural gas prices also rose from $3.50 per million British thermal units to around $5.60, inflating heating bills and electricity prices.
“As we think back on recent events, our job has never been clearer or more important,” CEO Darren Woods said in a conference call with investors on Friday. “The need to meet society’s changing needs reliably and affordably is what consumers and businesses around the world are demanding and what we delivered this quarter.”
As energy prices increased, Exxon’s stock price also increased. The company announced Friday that it is expanding a program to buy back its own shares, telling investors that Exxon could buy back up to $30 billion of its shares through 2023. It bought a total of $2.1 billion of shares during the quarter, disbursing cash to The investors. as its share price rose.
Exxon’s production fell to 3.7 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, down 4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2021 due to unscheduled weather-related downtime, planned maintenance and divestments, the company said. Production in the Permian Basin grew and the company was on track to achieve a 25% increase in production there in 2022 compared to last year.
Exxon said it plans to phase out routine flaring, the process of burning what it considers to be excess natural gas, in the Permian Basin by the end of the year. Exxon also announced progress on carbon reduction initiatives. During the quarter, Exxon secured financing to expand its carbon capture facility in LaBarge, Wyoming and announced plans to produce renewable fuel.
Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp fell slightly during morning trading.
Also on Friday, Chevron reported a quarterly profit of $6.26 billion, more than four times its profit in the same period last year. Earnings per share for the San Ramon, California-based energy producer were a penny below Wall Street expectations, according to a survey by Factset, but Chevron does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as the sale of assets. . And revenue rose 41 percent to $54.37 billion.