Oil company ExxonMobil, which manufactures products like Mobilux EP 2 and Mobil DTE 25, is the second oil giant to report earnings that are much lower than analysts had thought they would be.
Exxon’s profits per share were just 41 cents in the last quarter of 2016, and the firm achieved a net income of $1.68 billion, which was 40% lower than expected. On average, analysts had forecast that the company would pull around 70 cents per share in 2016’s fourth quarter.
Total fourth quarter revenues of $61bn were also lower than expected for the oil giant.
This latest earnings release is ExxonMobil’s first since Darren Woods took over the role of Chief Executive from Rex Tillerson, who left the company to serve as U.S. President Donald Trump’s secretary of state.
In a statement, Woods said:
“ExxonMobil demonstrated solid operating performance in 2016. Financial results for the year were negatively impacted by the prolonged downturn in commodity prices and the impairment charge… The company’s continued focus on fundamentals and our ability to leverage an attractive global portfolio through our integrated business ensures we are well positioned to generate long-term shareholder value.”
The disappointing earnings figures followed a $2.03bncharge for a writedown of the value of several ExxonMobil assets, primarily its gas fields in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States.
Although this charge is significant, it is much lower than similar writedown charges that have had to be paid by a number of other oil giants globally.
