Tony Webster
The company posted a quarterly loss of $20bn, compared with a profit of $5.7bn a year earlier. ExxonMobil posted a loss of $22.4bn for the full year 2020 and recorded a profit of $14.3bn in 2019. The 2020 annual loss was the first since 1999, when ExxonMobil was formed by merging Exxon and Mobil in a $73bn deal.
Also, the first annual loss in a decade was reported by another major oil and gas company, Britain's BP.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a worldwide economic slowdown and declining energy prices, have made oil and gas companies some of the biggest losers. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), oil production declined by an average of 9.3m bpd year-on-year against 2019 levels.
However, ExxonMobil's shares rose 3.8% after the publication of the ExxonMobil report. Experts attributed this to the fact that the company's quarterly adjusted profit, which does not take into account asset write-downs, was $0.03 per share, while FactSet analysts had expected a figure of only $0.01. In addition, investors liked the company's rather optimistic outlook for 2021, in which ExxonMobil promised to continue paying dividends and strengthen its balance sheet.
source: reuters.com
Also, the first annual loss in a decade was reported by another major oil and gas company, Britain's BP.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a worldwide economic slowdown and declining energy prices, have made oil and gas companies some of the biggest losers. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), oil production declined by an average of 9.3m bpd year-on-year against 2019 levels.
However, ExxonMobil's shares rose 3.8% after the publication of the ExxonMobil report. Experts attributed this to the fact that the company's quarterly adjusted profit, which does not take into account asset write-downs, was $0.03 per share, while FactSet analysts had expected a figure of only $0.01. In addition, investors liked the company's rather optimistic outlook for 2021, in which ExxonMobil promised to continue paying dividends and strengthen its balance sheet.
source: reuters.com
