Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) on Friday reported year-over-year gains in their second-quarter results as supply disruptions in the Middle East boosted oil prices.
Exxon posted adjusted earnings of $3.52 a share for the June quarter, up from $1.61 the year before, but below the FactSet-polled consensus of $3.56. Total revenue came in at $116.02 billion, up from $81.51 billion, ahead of the Street's view for $109.94 billion.
"The second quarter was shaped by disruption, but defined by execution," Chief Executive Darren Woods said in a statement. "We delivered strong earnings and cash flow, continued investing in advantaged opportunities, returned cash to shareholders, and strengthened the balance sheet."
Production in the upstream segment totaled 4.51 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, ahead of the average analyst estimate on FactSet of 4.21 million. In the first quarter, production was 4.59 million barrels a day.
The segment's adjusted earnings improved sequentially to $9.19 billion from $6.27 billion, amid "record" production in the Permian Basin and the absence of operational disruptions in Kazakhstan, partially offset by disruptions in the Middle East, Exxon said in prepared remarks.
"Supply disruptions resulted in higher prices and margins for much of the quarter," Exxon said.
Crude prices fell in May and June before rebounding in July as the US and Iran resumed strikes against each other earlier this month, just weeks after signing a memorandum of understanding to halt the war that began at the end of February.
"Markets experienced unprecedented supply disruptions across all sectors in the second quarter," according to Exxon. "Even so, quarter-average crude prices remained within historical ranges due to reduced refining capacity and significant crude inventory releases," according to Exxon.
BofA Securities earlier in the week downgraded Exxon Mobil to neutral from buy, saying the stock offers limited upside potential amid ongoing geopolitical concerns.
Chevron separately reported adjusted EPS of $6.06 for the second quarter, up from $1.77 in the prior-year period, exceeding the Street's expectations for $5.55. The increase was driven by reliable operations with higher commodity prices, greater margins on refined product sales and impacts from higher sales volumes, the company said.
Total revenue rose to $70.06 billion from $44.82 billion, topping Wall Street's forecast of $62.72 billion.
"Our strong second-quarter performance is a result of disciplined investment and strong execution that drove record US upstream production, record crude throughput in our US refineries, and exceptional reliability across key assets," CEO Mike Wirth said.
Chevron's global oil-equivalent production rose to 4.07 million barrels per day from almost 3.4 million barrels in the year-ago quarter, ahead of the market's 4.03 million-barrel view.
US upstream production rose to 2.08 million barrels a day from 1.7 million barrels.
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