ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil saw its shares fall by 1.7% in Friday’s trading, as an attempt to assuage concerns over a slump in production with a higher-than –anticipated 21% dividend hike failed to please investors.
Exxon’s oil and natural gas production slumped 5% in the first quarter to 4.55 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd). High oil prices masked the drop, with $980 million of additional revenue attributable to prices compensating for $850 million losses through lower production.
Overall profit was $9.5 billion, $1 billion down on Q1 2011, a fall of 11%. Shares in Exxon sank by 1.7% on Thursday, a huge number for the world’s largest energy company.
Shell
Anglo-Dutch supergiant Shell fared much better than Exxon through Q1, energy inventories and other non-operating items, jumped to $7.28 billion in the three months to March 31, an increase of 16% over the same period in 2011.
Unlike Exxon, Shell saw its oil and gas production rise, by 1% to 3.55 million bpd, which together with oil prices saw revenues from oil and gas sales increase 9% to $119.92 billion.
Shell’s shares rose 3% on the results.
Chevron
Chevron’s first-quarter profit rose to $6.47 billion, or $3.27 per share, from $6.21 billion, or $3.09 per share, a year earlier, as higher oil prices saw off the potential for losses through reduced production. Results were buoyed by asset sales and a continued exit from refining.
Huge spending by the supermajor has not yet boosted production. Capex for 2012 is $32.7 billion, up from $29.1 billion last year, although groupwide oil and gas production fell to 2.63 million bpd on an oil-equivalent basis in the first quarter from 2.76 million bpd a year before.
Total
Total saw net income fall 5% in dollar terms, or 1% in euros, to €3.07 billion.
Again, Total rode the oil price boom to increased profits, recording a rise in adjusted net operating income to €2.94 billion ($3.85 billion) on the back of an 11% (7%) rise in sales earnings. Overall profit margins would have been higher but for poor performance in refining, reflecting the downside of high oil prices.
Groupwide production was flat over the year at 2.4 million barrels.
