Full-year 2013 earnings were $21.4 billion, down 18% from $26.2 billion from 2012.
“Global crude oil prices and refining margins were generally lower in 2013 than 2012,” said Chairman and CEO John Watson. “These conditions, as well as lower gains on asset sales and higher expenses, resulted in lower earnings. We continue to have an advantaged portfolio, and we have maintained our industry-leading position in upstream earnings per barrel for the past four years.”
Watson continued, “We made significant progress on our LNG projects in Australia during the past year, with Gorgon almost 75 percent complete and Wheatstone successfully reaching important
construction and LNG marketing milestones. We expect 2014 will be the peak year for spending on these two projects as we move them closer to first production. Significant progress was also made at two
important Gulf of Mexico deepwater projects, Jack/St. Malo and Big Foot.”
“We continued to pursue shale and tight-rock opportunities during 2013,” Watson noted. Key achievements included major new investments in the Vaca Muerta Shale in Argentina and the Kitimat
LNG Project in Canada, acquisition of additional acreage in the Duvernay Shale in Canada, and securing new shale opportunities in Ukraine and central Australia.
International downstream operations earned $125 million in the fourth quarter 2013 compared with $594 million a year earlier. Current quarter earnings decreased due to lower gains on asset sales,
lower margins on refined product sales, an unfavorable change in price effects on derivative instruments and higher income tax expenses.
Foreign currency effects decreased earnings by $96 million and $97 million in the 2013 and 2012 periods, respectively.
Refinery crude oil input of 878,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter 2013 decreased 40,000 barrels per day from the year-ago period. Total refined product sales of 1.56 million barrels per day in the 2013 fourth quarter were essentially flat with the year-ago period.
