Oil and natural gas giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: Quote) reported Thursday a record profit for the second quarter that surged 49 percent from last year, reflecting significant gains from asset sales.
However, stripping down the gains, profit would have dropped 21 percent on dwindling production of oil and gas.
The Irving, Texas-based world's largest energy company by market value reported net income of $15.91 billion or $3.41 per share for the second quarter, higher than $10.68 billion or $2.18 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Excluding those one-time gains, Exxon earned $8.4 billion, or $1.80 per share, multiple reports said.
On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.95 per share in the second quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Earnings for the latest quarter includes a net gain of $7.5 billion associated with divestments and tax-related items. Excluding items, earnings were $8.4 billion.
Total revenues and other income for the quarter grew to $127.36 billion from $125.49 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped four Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $115.08 billion.
Upstream earnings for the quarter declined 2 percent from the year-ago quarter to $8.37 billion. Lower liquids and U.S. natural gas realizations reduced earnings at the segment by $870 million, and lower sales volumes decreased earnings by $330 million.
Downstream segment earnings soared to $6.65 billion from $1.36 billion in the prior-year quarter, mainly on $5.3 billion gains related to Japan restructuring.
Chemical segment earnings grew to $1.45 billion from last year's $1.32 billion, reflecting gains related to Japan restructuring.
Oil-equivalent production declined 5.6 percent from last year to 4,152 thousands of oil equivalent barrels per day or koebd. Excluding the impacts of entitlement volumes, OPEC quota effects and disinvestments, production was nearly flat.
Liquids production was down to 2,208 thousands of barrels per day or kbd from the prior year's 2,351 kbd. Natural gas production for the quarter was 11,661 millions of cubic feet per day or mcfd, lower than last year's 12,267 mcfd, driven by field decline.
During the quarter, the company's petroleum product sales decreased to 6,171 kbd from last year's 6,331 kbd.
Meanwhile, capital and exploration expenditures declined 9 percent to $9.34 billion from last year. The company recently announced plans to invest about $37 billion per year over the next five years to help meet the global demand for energy.
"The Corporation distributed $7.7 billion to shareholders in the second quarter through dividends and share purchases to reduce shares outstanding," Tillerson added.
In Thursday's regular trading session, XOM is currently trading at $85.49, up $0.25 or 0.29% on a volume of 6.67 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $67.03 to $87.94.
 | | To receive FREE breaking news email alerts for Exxon Mobil Corp. and others in your portfolio |
|
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News