Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has reported a sharp slide in second-quarter earnings due to lower crude oil and natural gas prices, as well as weaker industry refining margins.
However, the US oil and gas giant said it remains on track to deliver $9 billion of structural cost savings by the end of 2023 relative to 2019, after achieving cumulative structural cost savings of $8.3 billion to date.
It also achieved the highest second-quarter global refinery throughput in the last 15 years, it added.
For the three months to June 30, 2023, the company reported total revenue and other income of $82.9 billion, down 28% from a year earlier, while earnings per share fell 54% to $1.94, below the $2 consensus forecast of analysts, according to Zacks Investment Research.
“The work we've been doing to improve our underlying profitability is reflected in our second-quarter results, which doubled from what we earned in a comparable industry commodity price environment4 just five years ago,” chairman and CEO Darren Woods said in a statement.
“Earnings totaled more than $19 billion during the first half of the year, and we are on track to structurally reduce costs by $9 billion at year-end compared to 2019. Production is up 20% year-over-year in Guyana and the Permian, and we are playing a leading role in the industry's energy transition with an agreement to acquire Denbury and with three world-scale CO2 offtake agreements.”
Earlier this month, the company inked its largest acquisition in six years with an agreement to buy Denbury, a Texas-based company, for $4.9 billion.
Denbury is the owner of a 1,300-mile pipeline system dedicated to transporting carbon dioxide (CO2), making it crucial infrastructure for capturing carbon emissions from heavily-polluting facilities such as refineries and chemical plants.
Exxon Mobil's shares were down 0.6% at $104.79 in Friday pre-market trading.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com