ExxonMobil, the energy giant behind Mobil UK distributors, showed a 16% year-on-year rise in profits after posting its first-quarter earnings. The company’s share price dipped slightly, though, amid perceptions that the profit rise had not met the expectations of analysts.
Revenue at the company did beat analysts’ expectations of
$66.1 billion, however, after rising 16.3% to $68.2 billion.
Darren Woods, ExxonMobil’s CEO, said the recent recovery in oil prices had helped improve the company’s performance:
“Increased commodity prices, coupled with a focus on operating efficiently and strengthening our portfolio, resulted in higher earnings and the highest quarterly cash flow from operations and asset sales since 2014.”
Despite favourable oil prices and efficient operations, the company pointed out that the rise in revenue had been offset by weaknesses in its refining and chemical operations.
On taking over from Rex Tillerson in 2017 as CEO, Darren Woods set the goal of doubling the company’s earnings by 2025. There is some progress on this, and the company appears to have turned its US shale upstream operations around. Compared with a loss of $18 million last year, ExxonMobil’s shale operations generated $429 million in earnings. Cash flow from asset sales and operations is also at its highest since 2014.
The markets have also showed mixed responses to the quarterly earnings reports from other energy giants as analysts look for solid numbers that reflect the recovery in oil prices, but some say more attention should be paid to the structural changes that oil companies have made since 2014.
