Hamburger Anzeiger - ExxonMobil profits dip as it gives back almost $10 bn to investors

NYSE - LSE
CMSC 0.32% 24.63 $
RBGPF -2.35% 59.6 $
BCC 1.55% 135.13 $
RIO 0.62% 65.295 $
SCS 1.03% 12.155 $
NGG 1.47% 64.54 $
BCE -0.51% 32.095 $
JRI 0.34% 13.124 $
RELX 2.17% 47.245 $
CMSD 0.52% 24.79 $
AZN 0.32% 71.38 $
GSK 0.98% 37.125 $
RYCEF 3.92% 7.14 $
BTI 0.36% 35.105 $
BP 0.12% 29.395 $
VOD 0.91% 9.355 $
ExxonMobil profits dip as it gives back almost $10 bn to investors
ExxonMobil profits dip as it gives back almost $10 bn to investors / Photo: KARIM JAAFAR - AFP/File

ExxonMobil profits dip as it gives back almost $10 bn to investors

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.

Text size:

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.

M.Huber--HHA