Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. producer of oil, unveiled its strategic financial outlook, disclosing plans for capital spending ranging from $23 billion to $25 billion in the current year as it gears up for upcoming projects slated for 2025.
This projection follows the company’s full-year capital expenditures of $26.32 billion in 2023 as against $22.704 billion in 2022.
Exxon Mobil reported capital spending of $7.757 billion in the most recent quarter from $7.463 billion in the same period a year ago.
The US-based energy giant reported a robust $36 billion profit for the entire year 2023. The impressive financial performance was attributed to strong contributions from fuels trading and increased oil and gas production.
Oil majors, including Exxon Mobil, have faced a challenging landscape in 2023, experiencing a roughly one-third decline in profits from the record levels achieved in 2022. This downturn is primarily attributed to the retreat of oil and gas prices following the spike during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Exxon Mobil’s Chief Executive, Darren Woods, in its earnings report, commented on the industry’s performance, stating that “energy prices and refining margins started to normalize in 2023.”
In the fourth quarter, Exxon reported a profit of $9.96 billion, compared to $14.04 billion in the same period the previous year. This quarter’s results were bolstered by higher trading profits in the fuels business and increased oil and gas production in the U.S. and Guyana, according to Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells.
Exxon’s trading division played a pivotal role in delivering a significant $1.1 billion boost to operating profit from its fuels business in the fourth quarter. The company’s decision to consolidate global trading into a single division proved successful, with Mikells noting that such gains are expected to be a recurring feature in future results.
Furthermore, Exxon Mobil exceeded its $9 billion cost-cutting target set in 2019 by an additional $700 million. The company achieved $9.7 billion in cumulative structural cost savings in 2023 compared to 2019, surpassing its original plan by $2.3 billion during the year and an additional $0.7 billion in the quarter. Exxon Mobil now aims to deliver cumulative savings totaling $15 billion through the end of 2027.