ExxonMobil's Profit And Sales Sink in Third Quarter

ExxonMobil ended the third quarter with an annual drop of 54% in profit and 17% in revenue as oil prices were lower than a year earlier.

Net income fell to $9.1 billion from $19.7 billion in the third-quarter of 2022 sales contracted to $88.6 billion from $106.5 billion, the company said in its earnings statement Friday morning.

Exxon's profit rose 15% from the second quarter on the heels of a recovery in oil prices, but fell below analysts' expectations.

Earnings per share were at $2.25 per share. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research predicted $2.36 per share, according to CNBC.

Exxon stock lost 0.9% and was traded at $106.61 in New York at 9:44 a.m.

High global oil prices are a major factor behind the increase in profit from the second quarter. WTI crude prices have hovered between $80 and $90 per barrel since the end of August, following a bear market in the early part of this year. Prices were above $100 per barrel in July of last year, in reaction to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The company increased its dividend to $0.95 per share in the fourth quarter, up from $0.91 per share in the previous three months.

"We delivered another quarter of strong operational performance, earnings and cash flows, adding nearly 80,000 net oil-equivalent barrels per day to support global supply," ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said in the earnings statement.

Exxon agreed to buy Pioneer Natural Resources in a $59.5 billion all-stock transaction earlier in October, increasing the acreage under the oil giant's control in Texas' Permian Basin by 149%.

The company expects improved oil output from Guyana and Texas "to further strengthen our already strong upstream portfolio," Woods said later on the earnings call.