Falling Energy Prices Slash ExxonMobil’s Profit and Sales

Slumping energy prices sent profit and sales at ExxonMobil (XOM) tumbling, and its shares fell 1.6% in early trading on Friday following the news.

The energy giant reported earnings of $7.88 billion, an almost $10 billion drop from the same period in 2022. Earnings per share (EPS) of $1.94 came in short of forecasts. Revenue sank 27% to $80.8 billion, but beat estimates.1 

ExxonMobil said “lower natural gas realizations and industry refining margins adversely impacted earnings.” Upstream profit sank 73% in the U.S. and 59% worldwide. 

As Russian supply concerns eased, the company noted that industry margins were down from the first quarter on weaker diesel margins. It added that higher volumes from the first full quarter of its Beaumont refinery expansion partially offset those lower margins and lower scheduled maintenance.

CEO Darren Woods pointed to ExxonMobil’s efforts to reduce expenses, indicating that the firm is on track “to structurally reduce costs by $9 billion at year end compared to 2019.”

This week rivals Chevron (CVX) and Shell (SHEL) also reported a major decline in profits because of lower commodity prices. Shares of ExxonMobil lost ground on Friday, and they’ve been in negative territory for the year since early May.