HOUSTON (Reuters) -Exxon Mobil on Friday beat Wall Street’s third quarter profit estimate, boosted by strong oil output in its first full quarter that includes volumes from U.S. shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources.
Oil industry earnings have been squeezed this year by slowing demand and weak margins on gasoline and diesel. But Exxon’s year-over-year profit fell 5%, a much smaller drop than at rivals BP and TotalEnergies, which posted sharply lower quarterly results.
The U.S. oil producer reported income of $8.61 billion, down from $9.07 billion a year ago. Its $1.92 per share profit topped Wall Street’s outlook of $1.88 per share, on higher oil and gas production and spending constraints.
“We had a number of production records” in the quarter, said finance chief Kathryn Mikells, citing an about 25% year-on-year increase in oil and gas output, to 4.6 million barrels per day.
Exxon shares rose about 1.9% in premarket trading to $119 per share.
Exxon earlier this month had flagged operating profit likely fell, leading Wall Street analysts to shave their quarterly per share earnings outlook by nearly a dime.
The results included Exxon’s first full quarter of production following its acquisition in May of Pioneer Natural Resources. The $60 billion deal drove production in the top U.S. shale basin to nearly 1.4 million barrels per day of oil and gas, helping overcome a 17% decline in average oil prices in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
Exxon disclosed it raised its quarterly dividend by 4% after generating free cash flow of $11.3 billion, well above analysts’ estimates. Rivals Saudi Aramco and Chevron have had to borrow this year to cover shareholder returns after boosting dividends and buybacks to attract investors.
Exxon did not provide a fourth quarter outlook, but said it plans to provide investors with a revised production forecast next month. OPEC in December may add 180,000 barrels per day of additional supply to a market with an uncertain demand outlook.
The market is worried about oil supply outrunning demand. Prices slumped over the summer and remain about 12% below June’s average.
Exxon’s earnings from producing gasoline and diesel were $1.3 billion, down from $2.44 billion in the same quarter a year ago as weak margins and a refinery outage pummeled fuel results.
An Illinois refinery went offline for nearly a month during the quarter, a shutdown that analysts estimate hit operating profits by about $250 million.
“Refining margins definitely came down in the quarter. If you look at overall results for the refining business, we feel pretty good,” said Exxon’s Mikells. Per unit refining margins since 2019 have about doubled on a constant margin basis, she said.
Profits from Exxon’s chemical business, which has been pressured by industry overcapacity for two years, rose in the quarter to $893 million, compared to $249 million a year ago, on a slight increase in margins.
“We are in a much better position (in chemicals) because we have a strong Gulf Coast footprint that benefits from Gulf Coast (natural gas) prices,” said CFO Mikells.
(Reporting by Gary McWilliams in Houston and Shariq Khan in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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