Strong first quarter results

The corporation recorded first quarter earnings of $8.2 billion ($11.4 billion a year earlier) as industry refining margins and natural gas prices came down from last year's highs to trade within the ten-year historical range.

Strong volume growth primarily from Guyana and the Beaumont refinery expansion, and structural cost savings helped to offset lower base volumes from divestments, unfavourable entitlements and government-mandated curtailments, and higher expenses from scheduled maintenance.

“Our strategy and focus on execution excellence is creating significant value for society and our shareholders,” said Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer.

“We delivered a strong quarter with continued growth in advantaged assets, such as Guyana, where production continues at higher-than-expected levels, contributing to historic economic growth for the Guyanese people. In Product Solutions, our strong turnaround performance on cost and schedule helped drive record first-quarter refining throughput.”

Upstream first-quarter earnings were $5.7 billion, down by $797 million compared to the same quarter last year. Some of the decline in earnings is due to a 32% decrease in natural gas realizations and other primarily non-cash impacts from tax and inventory adjustments as well as divestments. Excluding the impacts from divestments, entitlements, and government-mandated curtailments, net production grew 77,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day driven by the start-up of the Payara development in Guyana, which reached nameplate capacity of 220,000 barrels per day in mid-January, ahead of schedule, demonstrating excellence in project execution and operations.

First quarter earnings for our Energy Products business (Fuels and Lubes) totalled $1.4 billion, down from $2.8 billion in the same quarter last year due to weaker industry refining margins and unfavourable timing effects mainly from derivatives mark-to-market impacts. Earnings improvements from the Beaumont refinery expansion project, and structural cost savings, partly offset lower base volumes from divestments and higher scheduled maintenance expenses. Strong turnaround performance reduced labour costs and facility downtime, which helped to mitigate expenses related to the scheduled maintenance.

Our Chemical Products business recorded earnings of $785 million, an increase of $414 million compared to the same quarter last year. Despite continued bottom-of-cycle conditions, results improved with higher margins due to lower North American feed costs and higher margins from performance chemicals more than offsetting the decline in industry margins for polyethylene and polypropylene.

Specialty Products earnings were $761 million, compared to $774 million in the same quarter last year. Improved finished lubes margins and structural cost savings offset weaker basestock margins and higher base expenses.

“Looking ahead,” said our chairman Darren Woods, “We’re making great progress on our plans to grow the earnings power of our existing businesses from investments in advantaged assets and higher-value products, and further reduce structural costs. We are investing in technology to transform the molecules derived from oil and natural gas into products that extend our reach into new, high-value, high-growth markets to capture even greater value from our core competitive advantages.” See the corporate announcement here: https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/news-releases/2024/0426_exxonmobil-announces-first-quarter-2024-results