Exxon Mobil Corporation today (Tuesday, January 31, 2017) announced an estimated 2016 earnings of $7.8 billion.
The company said an asset recoverability review was completed in the fourth quarter.
“U.S. Excluding the impairment charge, full year earnings were $9.9 billion compared with $16.2 billion a year earlier, reflecting lower commodity prices and refining margins,” Exxon Mobil said.
Fourth quarter earnings were $1.7 billion, including the impairment charge recorded during the period. Oil-equivalent production was 4.1 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, with liquids down 3.9 percent and natural gas down 1.7 percent from the prior year.
“Excluding the impairment charge, earnings of $3.7 billion were up from the $2.8 billion reported in the fourth quarter of 2015, due to higher liquids realizations partly offset by weaker refining margins.”
In January 2017, ExxonMobil announced positive results from its Payara-1 well offshore Guyana. The well encountered more than 95 feet of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs, and is the second discovery on the Stabroek Block. In addition to the Payara discovery, appraisal drilling at Liza-3 has identified an additional high-quality, deeper reservoir directly below the Liza field. This deeper reservoir is estimated to contain resources between 100 million and 150 million oil-equivalent barrels.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Darren W. Woods says despite being negatively impacted by the prolonged downturn in commodity prices and the impairment charge, ExxonMobil demonstrated solid operating performance in 2016.
Darren said, “the company’s continued focus on fundamentals and our ability to leverage an attractive global portfolio through our integrated business ensures we are well positioned to generate long-term shareholder value.”
ExxonMobil completed five major Upstream projects during the year in Australia, Kazakhstan and the U.S., adding 250,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day of working interest production capacity.
The company made three important new discoveries in Guyana, Nigeria and Papua New Guinea, and is growing its exploration portfolio, capturing 16 exploration blocks in 2016 with three additional awards to be finalized in 2017.
In the Downstream segment, ExxonMobil completed a 20,000-barrel-per-day crude expansion project at the Beaumont, Texas, refinery that increased the site’s flexibility to process domestic light crude oils. The Company is also advancing projects to increase production of higher-value fuels and lubricants, including investments at refineries in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Chemical business says it continued to capitalize on its liquids and gas cracking capabilities, capturing increased specialty and commodity product demand. The company is selectively investing to extend its advantage with projects that expand production capacity for ethylene and related products around the world.
During 2016, the corporation distributed $12.5 billion in dividends to shareholders.
A full analysis of the Company’s performance including highlights and comparisons to previous years is available ExxonMobil’s website.
