AFP, New York :
Low crude prices and weak refining margins weighed on third-quarter profits at US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron Friday.
But the heavy impact of the industry’s slump on company performance may have bottomed out, as earnings rose compared with the prior two quarters at both.
The two oil giants headed in opposite directions on Wall Street despite reporting very similar bottom-line trends, with ExxonMobil notching a 37.5 percent decline in profits to $2.7 billion and Chevron disclosing a 36.8 percent fall to $1.3 billion.
Chevron shares surged on its first profit after three successive quarters in the red, while Exxon retreated after it warned it may be forced to slash its economically viable petroleum reserves estimate by nearly 20 percent due to low oil prices.
Net earnings fell sharply in both Exxon’s upstream division, which explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas, and its downstream division, which processes crude into gasoline and other petroleum products.
Exxon said it could remove 4.6 billion barrels from its viable reserves accounting, with the bulk from the Kearl oil sands project in Canada, a region hit hard by the slump in oil prices. The company is undertaking a broader review of its assets that could require write-downs.
Low crude prices and weak refining margins weighed on third-quarter profits at US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron Friday.
But the heavy impact of the industry’s slump on company performance may have bottomed out, as earnings rose compared with the prior two quarters at both.
The two oil giants headed in opposite directions on Wall Street despite reporting very similar bottom-line trends, with ExxonMobil notching a 37.5 percent decline in profits to $2.7 billion and Chevron disclosing a 36.8 percent fall to $1.3 billion.
Chevron shares surged on its first profit after three successive quarters in the red, while Exxon retreated after it warned it may be forced to slash its economically viable petroleum reserves estimate by nearly 20 percent due to low oil prices.
Net earnings fell sharply in both Exxon’s upstream division, which explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas, and its downstream division, which processes crude into gasoline and other petroleum products.
Exxon said it could remove 4.6 billion barrels from its viable reserves accounting, with the bulk from the Kearl oil sands project in Canada, a region hit hard by the slump in oil prices. The company is undertaking a broader review of its assets that could require write-downs.
