Exxon Mobil Q3 Profit Down 38%, But Beats Estimates; Revenues Miss

(RTTNews) - Oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) on Friday reported a 38 percent decline in profit for the third quarter from last year, reflecting lower crude oil and natural gas prices as well as weaker refining margins. However, earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' expectations, while revenues missed their estimates.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil's third-quarter net income was $2.65 billion or $0.63 per share, down sharply from $4.24 billion or $1.01 per share in the prior-year quarter.

On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.58 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Total revenues and other income declined 13 percent to $58.68 billion from $67.34 billion last year. Analysts were looking for revenue of $61.34 billion.

Exxon Mobil's upstream, or exploration and production earnings for the quarter fell 54 percent from the prior-year period to $620 million, primarily reflecting lower liquids and natural gas realizations.

Meanwhile, the company's downstream, or refining and marketing earnings declined 39 percent from last year to $1.23 billion, reflecting weaker refining margins.

Chemical segment earnings declined 4 percent from last year to $1.2 billion, reflecting higher maintenance costs, partially offset by increased specialty product sales.

Exxon Mobil's oil-equivalent production in the quarter was 3.81 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, down 3 percent from last year. The decline was due to unplanned downtime, primarily in Nigeria, and field decline partially offset by increased production from recent project start-ups.

During the quarter, capital and exploration expenses were reduced by 45 percent to $4.2 billion.