By Sheila Dang
HOUSTON (Reuters) -Exxon Mobil on Friday beat Wall Street’s estimate for first-quarter profit as higher oil and gas production from Guyana and the Permian basin helped boost earnings.
The largest U.S. oil producer paid $4.3 billion in dividends and repurchased $4.8 billion in shares during the quarter. The buyback figure puts Exxon on track to meet its annual share repurchase goal of $20 billion.
The energy sector has faced a tumultuous start to the year after U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariff announcements stoked recession fears. Those concerns triggered a slump in oil prices because a weaker economy needs less energy to fuel it.
At the same time, the OPEC+ group of oil producers has been increasing output, leading to more crude supply and further pressuring prices.
Even so, Exxon reiterated its previous guidance of spending between $27 billion to $29 billion in 2025. CEO Darren Woods said despite pressure from short-term investors to cut expenditures and return more money to shareholders, the company will continue investing to maintain its position.
“I suspect with today’s level of market uncertainty, the call for this will be even stronger. That’s short-sighted,” Woods said during a conference call with analysts.
Exxon reported a profit for the January-March quarter of $7.71 billion or $1.76 per share, beating analyst estimates of $1.73 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The results set it apart from rival U.S. oil major Chevron, which said on Friday it would cut share repurchases during the second quarter.
“(Exxon) appears to have reiterated guidance on the shareholder returns front, which should be expected given the company’s strong balance sheet,” said Biraj Borkhataria, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, in a research note.
Global oil and gas production totaled 4.55 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) during the quarter, up from 3.78 million boepd in the same period last year.
Exxon is the largest producer in the Permian basin, the top U.S. oilfield, and operates the lucrative Stabroek block off the coast of Guyana. Cost of supply in the Permian is less than $35 per barrel, the company has previously said, allowing it to make money even at lower oil prices.
Higher production from the Permian and Guyana helped boost earnings from oil and gas production to $6.76 billion, up from $5.66 billion in the same period last year.
Refining profits were $827 million, down from $1.38 billion a year earlier.
New projects have more exposure to tariffs, but the company has not yet seen significant issues, Woods said.
Exxon has been locked in an arbitration battle with rival Chevron over Chevron’s planned $53 billion acquisition of Hess, which owns a 30% interest in a Guyana oil joint venture that is led by Exxon.
A hearing in the arbitration case is scheduled for May 26 in London.
Shares of Exxon, which have fallen 9% over the past year, were flat in morning trading.
(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Houston; Editing by Nia Williams, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Susan Fenton and Nick Zieminski)
