In what appears to be a major story in the earnings' report season, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) was the latest of the oil companies to say refining margins were a major part of their earnings success, along with higher oil prices.
Consequently, earnings in the quarter surged 85 percent for Exxon, coming in at $7.56 billion, or $1.60 a share. That's up from the $3.95 billion, or 81 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.
Revenue soared to $92.5 billion, a 24 percent increase. Analysts had looked for revenue of $98.5 billion and $1.46 a share. The margin spread helped Exxon outperform in earnings even with lower-than-expected revenue.
The oil giant said oil production in the second quarter was 4.0 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, an increase of 8 percent over 2009.
Exxon made a major move to diversify their revenue and earnings by acquiring natural gas giant XTO Energy Inc. for $30 billion. That makes Exxon the largest producer of natural gas in the United States.
In the second half of 2010 they plan on ramping up drilling in the extraordinary shale gas fields in North America.
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