Oil giant Exxon Mobil proved Tuesday that it is not immune to the oil glut. Overall 2015 earnings were halved across all its businesses.
“While our financial results reflect the challenging environment, we remain focused on the business fundamentals, including project execution and effective cost management,” said long-time chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson, in releasing the company’s fourth quarter earnings report for 2015.
The company announced $16.2 billion in yearly earnings, compared with $32.5 billion a year earlier, a 50 percent drop, it said. Analysts’ predictions that Exxon’s vast chemical ventures would somehow make it immune to lower oil prices were proven wrong. “Higher Downstream and Chemical earnings were offset by sharply lower commodity prices in the Upstream,” the company said.
The fourth quarter took a big hit in earnings, down nearly 58 percent, consistent with the rest of the year. “Fourth quarter earnings were $2.8 billion, or $0.67 per diluted share, down from $6.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. Lower commodity prices in the Upstream were partly offset by higher Downstream earnings,” the firm said.
