ExxonMobil Q3 Profit up, Output down

US major ExxonMobil made an estimated Q3 profit of $6.2bn, compared with $4bn a year earlier, it said November 2. Cash flow from operations and asset sales was $12.6bn, including proceeds associated with asset sales of $1.5bn. Capital and exploration expenditures were $6.6bn, up 10% on 2017.

Oil-equivalent production was 3.8mn barrels of oil equivalent/day, down 2% on Q3 2017; liquids production rose 6%, as growth in North America more than offset decline and higher downtime. Natural gas output was 9bn ft³/day, largely owing to the shift in US unconventional development from dry gas to liquids, accounting for a loss of 350mn ft³/day; European output was also down, by 320mn ft³, on Q3 2017.

“We are seeing the benefits of integration as we capture value from advantaged feedstock from the Permian and Western Canada for our North American refineries,” said CEO Darren Woods, adding: “We expect to continue to increase volumes over time as we ramp up activity in the Permian and new projects start up.”

ExxonMobil made its ninth discovery offshore Guyana at the Hammerhead-1 well in Q3, marking its fifth discovery on the Stabroek Block in the past year. Hammerhead-1 encountered about 60 metres of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. ExxonMobil also increased its holdings in Brazil’s pre-salt basins to 2.3mn net acres after it won the Tita exploration block with co-venturer, Qatar Petroleum, during the fifth pre-salt bid round. ExxonMobil is operator and holds 64%.