HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp, two of the world’s largest oil producers, reported quarterly profit on Friday that fell far short of Wall Street’s expectations.
A booth of U.S. major ExxonMobil is seen at the China (Dongying) International Petrochemical Trade Exhibition in Dongying, Shandong province, China May 29, 2018. Picture taken May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Chen Aizhu
The disappointing results come as much of the U.S. oil industry has been recovering from a three-year downturn in the energy sector, bolstered by higher production and crude prices.
Exxon’s troubles highlight ongoing issues the company has been having to boost operations, whereas Chevron’s miss was fueled by a slight rise in expenses that likely will not be repeated, analysts said.
Exxon shares fell 2.5 percent to $82.17 in midday trading, while Chevron’s recovered from an early drop and were up 2 percent at $126.42. Both stocks are components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The results were particularly weak at Exxon, which has been trying to boost operations in a bid to revive a stock price trading at about the same level it was a decade ago.
“Exxon’s definitely sticking out like a sore thumb right now,” said Edward Jones energy analyst Brian Youngberg. “It’s just hard to find anything good in the quarter.”
Despite rising oil prices, Exxon’s production dropped 7 percent and it spent more than $600 million to upgrade refineries in France, Canada, Texas and Saudi Arabia.
Exxon called the quarter a “challenging” one for its operations and “well below market expectations.”
Neil Chapman, an Exxon executive and member of the company’s management committee, said he is
