ExxonMobil Corporation announced first-quarter 2023 earnings of US$11.4 billion, or US$2.79 per share assuming dilution – a drop from US$12.8 billion in the last quarter. The result aligned with its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 8-K filings, triggered by a drop in oil and gas prices.
On the flip side, compared to the same quarter last year, Exxon’s earnings increased by US$2 billion. According to its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Darren Woods, it is the highest ever netted for the first quarter.
“Following a record year, ExxonMobil delivered the highest first-quarter earnings in our history, even as energy prices and refining margins moderated from the fourth quarter,” he told investors.
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Exxon’s upstream earnings were US$6.5 billion down from US$1.7 billion from the fourth quarter. It said the main drivers were lower prices, with crude and natural gas realisations down 10% and 23%, respectively, and unfavourable unsettled derivatives mark-to-market effects of US$2 billion, largely reflecting the absence of a positive mark-to-market impact in the prior quarter.
These impacts were partially offset by robust cost control and seasonally lower expenses, the absence of year-end inventory effects, and favourable volume/mix effects from advantaged growth in the Permian, Guyana, and Liquid Natural Gas (LNG).
Looking ahead, Exxon said the company remains on track to deliver US$9 billion of structural cost savings by the end of 2023 relative to 2019, having achieved cumulative structural cost savings of U$7.2 billion to date.
Exxon’s net production in the first quarter was 3.8 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, an increase of nearly 160,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day compared to the same quarter last year, it reported. Excluding divestments, entitlements, and the Sakhalin-1 expropriation, net production increased by nearly 300,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day driven by its advantaged projects in Guyana and the Permian.
The company on April 28 announced its final investment decision for the Uaru development in Guyana.
“Our people’s hard work to execute on our strategic priorities delivered a record first quarter following a record year,” Woods said. “We are growing value by increasing production from our advantaged assets to meet global demand. At the same time, our Low Carbon Solutions team is rapidly growing this new business with an additional carbon capture, transportation and storage agreement that underscores the company’s growing momentum in providing industrial customers with large-scale emission reduction solutions.”
