ExxonMobil 2nd quarter operating profits to double

Jul 04, 2022 News

…Stabroek Block among company’s “strong portfolio assets”

Kaieteur News – Guyana’s Stabroek Block is among the strong portfolio of assets that is expected to contribute to a “blowout” second quarter to Exxon Mobil, as the company’s profit is estimated to significantly surpass its 2022 first quarter gains.

A securities filing by the oil giant last Friday, indicated huge profit margins from fuel and crude sales to “generate a record quarterly” earning. Exxon announced last April that excluding identified items, it earned $8.8billion, an increase of more than $6 billion which was received in the first quarter of 2021. With energy prices skyrocketing this year, a Reuters report indicated the oil giant’s projected sequential increase of about $7.4 billion in operating profits compared with the first quarter. “The filing indicates a potential profit of more than $16 billion for the second quarter,” while the company’s peak quarterly profit of $15.9 billion was last recorded in 2012.

Exxon Mobil is said to have an “incredibly strong portfolio of assets that’ll enable continued growth and returns”, financial content provided, Seeking Alpha highlighted. The provider of financial market information said that, Exxon Mobil is investing heavily in its business and the Permian Basin represents one of the strongest and lowest-cost sources of growth for the company’s business. The company expects more than 800 thousand barrels/day in 2027 production, almost doubling from current levels, “and we can see it ramping up even faster than that.”

In Guyana however, Exxon is adding floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) every year, each at more than 200 thousand barrels per day in a production arrangement where the company has a 45 percent stake. “The company’s stake adds roughly 100 thousand barrels/day of production per FPSO. By 2027, production is expected to hit almost 1.5 million barrels/day and we can see it hitting two to three million barrels per day.” Exxon is said to be driving growth in all segments of its business with tens of billions worth of capital expenditure that it’s consistently stuck with in the last several years as other companies cut their spending.

“There’s no denying that this is a blowout quarter for the company. If you’ve been wondering about the consistent lower gas prices the last time oil was at $100/barrel, that difference is going (mostly) into these refining margins. Integrated oil-producing companies, that control every step of the value chain, have been doing incredibly well,” Alpha opined. It said that, “at the end of the day, putting this all together, expect not only a blowout quarter for the company but at least mid to strong performance for the next several quarters.”

Reuters said however, that with significant energy price increases; oil selling for more than $105 per barrel and gasoline at about $5 per gallon in the United States, the enormous earnings are likely to ignite new calls for windfall profit taxes. The filing showed that Exxon expects higher oil and gas prices will add about $2.9 billion to results. Margins from selling gasoline and diesel will add another $4.5 billion to operating profits. “High energy prices are largely a result of underinvestment by many in the energy industry over the last several years and especially during the pandemic,” Exxon was reported as saying.

Exxon’s profits had led U.S. President Joe Biden last month to say the company and other oil majors were capitalizing on a global oil supply shortage to fatten profits. Exxon, he said, was making “more money than God” after posting its biggest quarterly profit in seven years. The company reacted to the president’s comments saying it is investing more than any other producer in the United States to expand oil and natural gas production, including in the Permian, the country’s largest unconventional basin.

U.S. Representative Ro Khanna on Friday said Exxon’s record-breaking profits reinforce his call for Congress to pass a windfall tax on Big Oil. “Big Oil companies should be providing relief to their customers, not pouring billions into stock buybacks to enrich their investors.”

Exxon, which lost more than $22 billion in 2020, has been using the extra cash from higher energy prices sales to pay debt and raise distributions to shareholders. It plans to buy back up to $30 billion of its shares through 2023. Exxon also signaled a contribution of about $300 million from asset sales in the quarter. Official results for the period will be released on July 29, the summary of influencing factors disclosed.