Exxon Mobil has recently reported first-quarter profit of $5.48 billion, thanks to steadily rising oil and gas prices. In fact, the oil giant has more than doubled their profits from the same period last year.
Now, it is important to note that the oil giant did take quite a hit after abandoning their operations in Russia because of the present conflict with Ukraine. This caused the company to write down $3.4 billion. With that loss, Exxon Mobil posted a profit of $1.28 per share, on Friday. These numbers are far below the $2.23 analysts had originally expected.
Overall, the price of oil has been on a steady climb the past few months, particularly after Russia led an invasion into Ukraine. This singular event sent European countries scrambling to find alternative sources for fuel since they are inherently largely dependent on Russian imports. With that, a barrel of US benchmark crude shot up from $76 to almost $130 per barrel before settling down at $100 by the end of the quarter.
But it seems that natural gas is on the rise, too. For example, UK prices rose from $3.50 million British thermal units to $5.60, contributing to a major increase in heating and electricity bills.
According to Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods, “As we think about recent events, our job has never been clearer or more important. The need to meet society’s evolving needs reliably and affordably is what consumers and businesses across the globe are demanding and what we delivered this quarter.”
And, of course, a rise in energy prices will coincide with a rise in Exxon stock. As such, the company announced, on Friday, it will expand its program to buy back its own stock. This will send a message to investors that Exxon could reacquire as much as $30 billion worth of shares through the end of next year. It should be noted, here, that the oil giant already repurchased a total of $2.1 billion for the quarter; and that helped pay out investors in cash as the stock price continued to grow.
