Exxon smashes Western oil majors' earnings record with $56 billion
profit for 2022
Send a link to a friend
[January 31, 2023] By
Sabrina Valle
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp posted a $56 billion profit for
2022, the company said on Tuesday, taking home about $6.3 million per
hour last year, and setting not only a company record but a historic
high for the Western oil industry.
Oil majors are expected to break their own annual records on high prices
and soaring demand, pushing their combined take to near $200 billion.
The scale has renewed criticism of the oil industry and sparked calls
for more countries to levy windfall profit taxes on the companies.
Exxon's results far exceeded the then-record $45.2 billion net profit it
reported in 2008, when oil hit $142 per barrel, 30% above last year's
average price. Deep cost cuts during the pandemic helped supercharge
last year's earnings.
"Overall earnings and cashflow were up pretty significantly year on
year," Exxon Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells told Reuters. "So
that came really from a combination of strong markets, strong
throughput, strong production, and really good cost control."
Exxon said it incurred a $1.3 billion hit to its fourth-quarter earnings
from a European Union windfall tax that began in the final quarter and
from asset impairments. The company is suing the EU, arguing that the
levy exceeds its legal authority.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/31/images/ads/current/lincolnheating_quarter_LUAL_2022.png)
Excluding charges, profit for the full year was $59.1 billion.
Production was up by about 100,000 barrels of oil and gas per day over a
year ago to 3.8 million bpd. Adjusted per share profit of $3.40 beat
consensus of $3.29 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
Shares were down 1.5% in pre-market trading to $111.88.
WINDFALL TAXES
The results may set up another confrontation with the White House.
President Joe Biden's administration on Friday blasted oil firms for
pouring cash into shareholder payouts rather than production.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/013123PIX/busine42.jpg)
Exxon Mobil logo and stock graph are
seen through a magnifier displayed in this illustration taken
September 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/31/images/ads/current/fcs_funeral_lda_border_04029022.png)
Exxon boasted that its cash flow from operations soared to $76.8
billion last year, up from $48.1 billion in 2021.
Windfall profit taxes are "unlawful and bad policy," countered
Mikells. Slapping new taxes on oil earnings "has the opposite effect
of what you are trying to achieve," she said, adding that it would
discourage new oil and gas production.
Exxon posted $14 billion in fourth-quarter profit excluding charges,
60% more than the same period last year but down almost 25% from the
previous quarter as oil prices eased and some operations suffered
from cold-weather-related outages.
PROJECT SPENDING
Exxon's spending on new oil and gas projects bounced back last year
to $22.7 billion, up 37% from the prior year. The company increased
outlays on discoveries in Guyana, in the top U.S. shale field, and
on fuel refining and chemicals.
"The counter-cyclical investments we made before and during the
pandemic provided the energy and products people needed as economies
began recovering," Exxon Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said
in a statement.
Its results come ahead of what are expected to be strong earnings
from Shell plc on Thursday and from BP plc and TotalEnergies next
week.
(Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and
Mark Porter)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/31/images/ads/current/castlemanor_sda_FINANCIAL_2017.png) |