ExxonMobil Earns $3.1 Billion in Second Quarter 2019

02.08.2019  |  Business Wire

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM):

Exxon Mobil Corp. today announced estimated second quarter 2019 earnings of $3.1 billion, or $0.73 per share assuming dilution, compared with $4 billion a year earlier. Earnings included a favorable identified item of about $500 million, or $0.12 per share assuming dilution, reflecting the impact of a tax rate change in Alberta, Canada. Capital and exploration expenditures were $8.1 billion, up 22 percent from the prior year, reflecting key investments in the Permian Basin.

Oil-equivalent production was 3.9 million barrels per day, up 7 percent from the second quarter of 2018. Liquids production increased 8 percent driven by Permian Basin growth and reduced downtime, with limited impact from entitlement effects and divestments. Natural gas volumes increased 5 percent, excluding entitlement effects and divestments.

“We continue to make significant progress toward delivering our long-term growth plans,” said Darren W. Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive officer. “Our new U.S. Gulf Coast steam cracker is exceeding design capacity by 10 percent, less than a year after startup. Our upstream liquids production increased by 8 percent from last year, driven by growth in the Permian Basin, and we are preparing to startup the Liza Phase 1 development in Guyana, where the estimated recoverable resource increased to more than 6 billion oil-equivalent barrels.”

Second Quarter 2019 Business Highlights

Upstream

• Average crude prices were stronger than first quarter, while natural gas prices declined with supply length and crude-linked LNG lag effects.
• Liquids volumes increased with unconventional growth and ramp-up at Hebron, partly offset by the impacts of higher planned maintenance. Natural gas volumes were down from the first quarter due to weaker seasonal gas demand in Europe.
• Permian unconventional development continued with production up over 20 percent from the first quarter and up nearly 90 percent from the second quarter of last year.

Downstream

• Industry fuels margins, while remaining under pressure during the second quarter, improved from very low levels in the first quarter on stronger gasoline margins, mainly in the U.S.
• Planned maintenance activity remained at a high level during the quarter, as the company successfully completed a significant turnaround at its Joliet, Illinois, refinery in the U.S. mid-continent region. Results were also impacted by unscheduled downtime at refineries in Baytown, Texas; Sarnia (Canada); and Yanbu (Saudi Arabia).

Chemical

• Paraxylene margins weakened during the quarter with lengthening supply from recent industry capacity additions.
• Results were impacted by a significant increase in turnaround activity during the second quarter.
• Production at the new ethane steam cracker in Baytown, Texas, successfully increased to exceed design capacity by 10 percent.

Strengthening the Portfolio

• ExxonMobil increased its estimated gross recoverable resource for the Stabroek block in Guyana from 5.5 billion to over 6 billion oil-equivalent barrels. During the quarter, the company made its 13^th discovery on the block with the Yellowtail-1 well.
• Mozambique Rovuma Venture S.p.A., an incorporated joint venture owned by ExxonMobil, ENI S.p.a. and China National Petroleum Corporation, announced that the government of Mozambique approved its development plan for the Rovuma LNG project. The project includes two liquefied natural gas trains with a combined annual capacity of more than 15 million metric tons. A final investment decision is expected later in 2019.
• ExxonMobil subsidiary ExxonMobil Argentina Offshore Investments B.V. and an affiliate of Qatar Petroleum won three exploration blocks during Argentina’s first offshore bid round, adding approximately 2.6 million net acres to ExxonMobil’s holdings in the country.
• ExxonMobil announced that it will increase its offshore exploration acreage in Namibia with the addition of approximately 7 million net acres following the signing of agreements with the government of Namibia and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia.

Investing for Growth

• The company announced that it has funded the Liza Phase 2 development offshore Guyana after it received government and regulatory approvals. Phase 2 startup is expected in mid-2022, producing up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day, while Phase 1 remains on track for first oil by the first quarter of 2020. ExxonMobil estimates it will achieve gross production of over 750,000 barrels per day from the Stabroek Block by 2025.
• ExxonMobil and SABIC announced the decision to proceed with the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures project to construct a new chemical facility in San Patricio County, Texas. The new facility will include an ethane steam cracker with a capacity of 1.8 million metric tons per year, two polyethylene units and a monoethylene glycol unit.
• ExxonMobil made a final investment decision on a multi-billion dollar expansion of its integrated manufacturing complex in Singapore to convert fuel oil and other bottom-of-the-barrel crude products into higher-value lube basestocks and distillates. The expansion will add 20,000 barrels per day of ExxonMobil Group II basestocks capacity and increase production of lower-sulfur fuels by 48,000 barrels per day.
• ExxonMobil announced that it will proceed with a $2 billion expansion project at its Baytown, Texas, chemical plant. The expansion will add annual production of about 400,000 metric tons of Vistamaxx^TM performance polymers, and about 350,000 metric tons of linear alpha olefins.
• The company reached a final investment decision to upgrade its Fawley refinery in the United Kingdom to increase production of ultra-low sulfur diesel by almost 45 percent, or 38,000 barrels per day, along with logistics improvements. The more than $1 billion investment includes a hydrotreater unit to remove sulfur from fuel, supported by a hydrogen plant which will improve the refinery’s overall energy efficiency.
• The company is proceeding with an expansion project in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta basin. The project is expected to reach gross production of up to 55,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day within five years and will include 90 wells, a central production facility and export infrastructure.
• ExxonMobil and its partners announced a project to increase gross production at Block 15 offshore Angola by approximately 40,000 barrels per day, while changes to the production sharing agreement will extend operations through 2032.

Advancing Innovative Technologies and Products

• The company completed an expansion at its Singapore refinery to enhance EHC^TM Group II basestocks production, with supply to customers expected in the third quarter of 2019. The expansion will enable customers to blend lubricants that satisfy more stringent specifications, lower emissions and improve fuel economy and low-temperature performance.
• ExxonMobil announced that it will invest up to $100 million over 10 years to research and develop advanced lower-emissions technologies with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory. The agreement, among the largest between the department’s laboratories and the private sector, will support research and collaboration into ways to bring biofuels and carbon capture and storage to commercial scale across the transportation, power generation and industrial sectors.

First Half 2019 Financial Updates

During the first half of 2019, Exxon Mobil Corp. purchased 5 million shares of its common stock for the treasury at a gross cost of $414 million. These shares were acquired to offset dilution in conjunction with the company’s benefit plans and programs. The corporation will continue to acquire shares to offset dilution in conjunction with its benefit plans and programs.

ExxonMobil will discuss financial and operating results and other matters during a webcast at 8:30 a.m. Central Time on August 2, 2019. To listen to the event or access an archived replay, please visit www.exxonmobil.com.

Cautionary Statement

Outlooks, projections, goals, targets, descriptions of strategic plans and objectives, and other statements of future events or conditions in this release are forward-looking statements. Actual future results, including business and project plans, capacities, costs, and timing; resource recoveries and production rates; and the impact of new technologies, including to increase capital efficiency and production and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, could differ materially due to a number of factors. These include global or regional changes in supply and demand for oil, gas, and petrochemicals and other market conditions that impact prices and differentials; reservoir performance; the outcome of exploration projects and timely completion of development and construction projects; the impact of fiscal and commercial terms and the outcome of commercial negotiations or acquisitions; changes in law, taxes, or regulation including environmental regulations, and timely granting of governmental permits; war, shipping blockades or harassment, and other political or security disturbances; the actions of competitors; the capture of efficiencies between business lines; unforeseen technical or operating difficulties; unexpected technological developments; the ability to bring new technologies to commercial scale on a cost-competitive basis, including large-scale hydraulic fracturing projects; general economic conditions including the occurrence and duration of economic recessions; the results of research programs; and other factors discussed under the heading Factors Affecting Future Results on the Investors page of our website at www.exxonmobil.com and in Item 1A of ExxonMobil’s 2018 Form 10-K. We assume no duty to update these statements as of any future date.

Frequently Used Terms and Non-GAAP Measures

This press release includes cash flow from operations and asset sales. Because of the regular nature of our asset management and divestment program, we believe it is useful for investors to consider proceeds associated with the sales of subsidiaries, property, plant and equipment, and sales and returns of investments together with cash provided by operating activities when evaluating cash available for investment in the business and financing activities. A reconciliation to net cash provided by operating activities is shown for 2019 periods on page 7 and for 2019 and 2018 periods in Attachment V.

This press release also includes cash flow from operations and asset sales excluding working capital. We believe it is useful for investors to consider these numbers in comparing the underlying performance of our business across periods when there are significant period-to-period differences in the amount of changes in working capital. A reconciliation to net cash provided by operating activities is shown for 2019 periods on page 7 and for 2019 and 2018 periods in Attachment V.

This press release also includes earnings excluding identified items, which are earnings excluding significant non-operational events with an absolute corporate total earnings impact of at least $250 million. The earnings impact of an identified item for an individual segment may be less than $250 million when the item impacts several segments. We believe it is useful for investors to consider these figures in comparing the performance of our underlying business across periods when one, or both, periods include identified items. A reconciliation to earnings is shown for 2019 and 2018 periods in Attachment II.

This press release also includes total taxes including sales-based taxes. This is a broader indicator of the total tax burden on the corporation’s products and earnings, including certain sales and value-added taxes imposed on and concurrent with revenue-producing transactions with customers and collected on behalf of governmental authorities (“sales-based taxes”). It combines “Income taxes” and “Total other taxes and duties” with sales-based taxes, which are reported net in the income statement. We believe it is useful for the corporation and its investors to understand the total tax burden imposed on the corporation’s products and earnings. A reconciliation to total taxes is shown as part of the Estimated Key Financial and Operating Data in Attachment I.

References to the resource base and other quantities of oil, natural gas or condensate may include estimated amounts that are not yet classified as “proved reserves” under SEC definitions, but which are expected to be ultimately recoverable. The term “project” as used in this release can refer to a variety of different activities and does not necessarily have the same meaning as in any government payment transparency reports. Further information on ExxonMobil’s frequently used financial and operating measures and other terms including “Cash flow from operations and asset sales”, and “Total taxes including sales-based taxes” is contained under the heading “Frequently Used Terms” available through the “Investors” section of our website at exxonmobil.com.

Reference to Earnings

References to corporate earnings mean net income attributable to ExxonMobil (U.S. GAAP) from the consolidated income statement. Unless otherwise indicated, references to earnings, Upstream, Downstream, Chemical and Corporate and financing segment earnings, and earnings per share are ExxonMobil’s share after excluding amounts attributable to noncontrolling interests.

Vistamaxx and EHC are registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corp..

Exxon Mobil Corp. has numerous affiliates, many with names that include ExxonMobil, Exxon, Mobil, Esso, and XTO. For convenience and simplicity, those terms and terms such as corporation, company, our, we, and its are sometimes used as abbreviated references to specific affiliates or affiliate groups. Similarly, ExxonMobil has business relationships with thousands of customers, suppliers, governments, and others. For convenience and simplicity, words such as venture, joint venture, partnership, co-venturer, and partner are used to indicate business and other relationships involving common activities and interests, and those words may not indicate precise legal relationships.

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