Oil & Gas
By Anayo Ezugwu
EXXONMOBIL Corporation has announced estimated second quarter 2018 earnings of $4 billion, compared with $3.4 billion a year earlier. Cash flow from operations and asset sales was $8.1 billion, including proceeds associated with asset sales of $307 million.
During the quarter, the corporation distributed $3.5 billion in dividends to shareholders. Capital and exploration expenditures were $6.6 billion, up 69 percent from the prior year, reflecting key investments in Brazil, the US Permian Basin and Indonesia. Oil-equivalent production was 3.6 million barrels per day, down seven percent from the second quarter of 2017.
Excluding entitlement effects and divestments, liquids production increased as growth in the Permian and Bakken in the US and Hebron in Canada more than offset decline and higher downtime driven by scheduled maintenance. Natural gas volumes decreased by 10 percent, excluding entitlement effects and divestments, largely due to a continuing shift in US unconventional development from dry gas to liquids and to downtime in Qatar, Australia, and Papua New Guinea.
Darren W. Woods, chairman and chief executive officer, ExxonMobil, said key projects in Guyana, the US Permian Basin, Brazil, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea are positioning the company well to meet the objectives outlined for long-term earnings growth plans. He said the high quality of the resources, combined with strengths in project execution and innovation, will generate strong value over time.
“Second quarter results were primarily impacted by significant scheduled maintenance undertaken to support operational integrity. In addition, while we were pleased with the return of full production following the PNG earthquake, extended recoveries from first quarter operational incidents in the Downstream were disappointing. However, good progress was made during the second quarter in fully recovering from these incidents,” he said.
The report noted that crude prices strengthened in the second quarter, while natural gas prices were mixed. It stated that the US tight oil growth in the Permian and Bakken continued, reaching over 250,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day in the second quarter, and an increase of 30 percent from the same period last year.
“The Hebron field in Canada continued to exceed expectations, ramping up to 25,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day in the second quarter. Natural gas volumes were impacted by lower seasonal demand in Europe, deliberate near-term shifting of investments in U.S. unconventional from gas to liquids and downtime in LNG operations, notably in Qatar.
“Production at Papua New Guinea returned to normal operations in April and reached record daily LNG production rates in June. Second quarter volume loss associated with the earthquake recovery was 17,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day. Scheduled maintenance activities were undertaken to support operational integrity, largely in Canada at Syncrude, Cold Lake and Kearl, impacting volumes and expenses in second quarter.”
According to the report, global refining margins strengthened during the quarter due to higher industry refinery maintenance activity and increased seasonal petroleum product demand. It said overall througput and earnings were impacted by heavy turnaround and maintenance activities during the quarter.
It stated that the planned turnarounds were successfully completed at the refineries in Saudi Arabia, Port-Jérȏme, France, Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, and Alberta, Canada. But unplanned maintenance, a majority of which was carried-in from the first quarter, was largely completed during the quarter.
“Growth in higher-value sales of retail fuels in the US, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, combined with record quarterly sales of Mobil 1 lubricants in the US and China, resulted in improved earnings during the quarter. Depreciation in the Euro and British pound relative to the U.S. dollar negatively impacted earnings.”
Jul. 31, 2018 @ 14:25 GMT |
Tags: ExxonMobil earns $4 Billion in Q2 2018
