Exxon’s quarterly profit rise beats Wall Street forecasts
Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, yesterday said its quarterly profit rose 55 per cent, topping expectations, as higher crude prices and improved refining margins boosted results.
Third-quarter earnings for oil companies have been helped by a rebound in oil and natural gas prices. Slow improvement in the global economy has also lifted demand for fuels like diesel and gasoline, helping refining businesses. Compared with a year-earlier, US crude oil prices climbed 13 per cent while benchmark gas on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 23 per cent to average $4.23 per million British thermal units.
The Texas-based company said its oil and gas output rose 20 per cent from a year-ago to 4.45m barrels of oil equivalent per day. Gains were fuelled by Exxon’s massive liquefied natural gas projects in Qatar and its June acquisition of US oil and gas company XTO Energy.
Exxon said its third-quarter profit was $7.35bn (£4.61bn), or $1.44 per share, compared with $4.73bn, or 98 cents per share, in the year-ago third quarter.
Profit in Exxon’s exploration and production unit rose 36 per cent to $5.47bn, while its refining unit had a profit of $1.16bn, up sharply from $325m from a year ago.