Exxon Mobil performed better than expected in the last quarter, thanks to rising oil prices and reducing costs. This was shown on Friday by the quarterly figures of the American energy group.
Exxon Mobil recorded a net profit of $ 2.73 billion, or $ 0.64 per share, compared to a loss of $ 610 million in the same period a year earlier.
The adjusted earnings were $ 0.65 per share. That was $ 0.53 a year earlier. Analysts consulted by FactSet Research in advance expected a profit of $ 0.60 per share.
Exxon Mobil recorded a 5.3 percent increase in revenue of $ 59.1 billion, which was also above the FactSet consensus of $ 56.4 billion. Costs fell 1.5 percent to 55.6 billion dollars in the last quarter, while production increased 3 percent to 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Exxon Mobil maintained its investment plan for this year from 16 to 19 billion dollars. The operating cash flow last quarter was $ 9.3 billion and was sufficient to cover both dividend and investment. The debt was reduced by more than 4 billion dollars. The share of Exxon Mobil in the e-commerce market was 1.4 percent higher on Friday.
The price of oil dropped on Friday. At a settlement of $ 63.58, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate became 2.2 percent cheaper. On a weekly basis, the WTI oil price rose as much as 2.5 percent and in april even more than 3 percent.
According to Rystad Energy Analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen, the decrease on Friday was explained by profit-taking at the end of a good week for the oil markets.
Moreover, the underlying sentiment is still optimistic, says Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.
“The market looks beyond the current weakness in India caused by the coronavirus pandemic and expects demand to rise sharply and stocks to decline further in the second half of the year,” Weinberg said.
However, Commerzbank’s analyst sees some risks for oil prices, such as an overly optimistic expectation of oil demand and possible earlier than expected increases in OPEC+ supply.
