Exxon Mobil Corporation announced third-quarter 2024 earnings of $8.6 billion, or $1.92 per share assuming dilution. Cash flow from operating activities was $17.6 billion and free cash flow was $11.3 billion. Capital and exploration expenditures were $7.2 billion in the third quarter, bringing year-to-date 2024 expenditures to $20 billion, in line with the company's full-year guidance of $28 billion.
Improved earnings power from enterprise-wide transformation drove industry-leading third-quarter earnings of $8.6 billion1
Achieved highest liquids production in over 40 years with 3.2 million barrels per day2
Delivered record high-value product sales volumes in Product Solutions, up 10% over prior year-to-date
Returned $9.8 billion to shareholders in the quarter and increased fourth-quarter dividend to $0.99 per share
Leading carbon capture and storage development; new customer agreement increases CO2 offtake under contract to 6.7 million metric tons per year, more committed volume than any other company has announced3
“Our industry-leading results1 continue to demonstrate how our enterprise-wide transformation is improving the structural earnings power of the company. In the Upstream, we've doubled the profitability of the barrels we produce on a constant price basis5. In Product Solutions, we've high-graded our refining footprint and increased high-value product sales. And across the entire company, we’ve achieved $11.3 billion of structural cost savings since 2019. Our strategy is delivering leading returns of 20% so far this year for our shareholders, and we are continuing that growth with a 4% increase in our quarterly dividend payment announced today. We’ve now increased our annual dividend for 42 years in a row, a claim that less than 4% of the S&P 500 companies can make. Furthermore, we lead industry in total shareholder returns for the past 3, 5 and 10 years.”
Financial Highlights
Year-to-date earnings were $26.1 billion versus $28.4 billion in the same period last year. Earnings decreased as industry refining margins and natural gas prices declined from last year's historically high levels, partially offset by favorable timing effects mainly from derivatives mark-to-market impacts. Strong advantaged volume growth from Guyana and Permian assets including Pioneer, and increased high-value product sales more than offset lower base volumes from divestments of non-strategic assets and scheduled maintenance. Structural cost savings partly offset higher expenses from depreciation, scheduled maintenance, development of new businesses and 2025 project start-ups.
Achieved $11.3 billion of cumulative Structural Cost Savings versus 2019, including an additional $1.6 billion of savings during the year and $0.6 billion during the quarter. The company is on track to deliver cumulative savings totaling $15 billion through the end of 2027 versus 2019.
Generated strong cash flow from operations of $42.8 billion and free cash flow of $26.4 billion in the first nine months of the year. Industry leading year-to-date shareholder distributions1 of $26.1 billion included $12.3 billion of dividends and $13.8 billion of share repurchases. The company plans to repurchase over $19 billion of shares in 2024. ExxonMobil leads industry with total shareholder return of 20% year-to-date2, and also for the past three, five and ten-year periods.
The Corporation declared a fourth-quarter dividend of $0.99 per share, an increase of 4%, payable on December 10, 2024, to shareholders of record of Common Stock at the close of business on November 14, 2024. The company has increased its annual dividend for 42 consecutive years, a claim that less than 4% of the S&P 500 companies can make.
The company's debt-to-capital ratio was 13% and the net-debt-to-capital ratio was 5%3, reflecting year-to-date debt repayment of $4.7 billion and a period-end cash balance of $27.0 billion.
1 Leading measures for the IOCs are actuals for companies that reported results on or before October 31, 2024, or estimated using Bloomberg consensus as of October 31. IOCs include each of BP, Chevron, Shell and TotalEnergies.
2Year-to-date total shareholder return is as of the last business day of the most recent fiscal quarter.
3 Net debt is total debt of $42.6 billion less $26.9 billion of cash and cash equivalents excluding restricted cash. Net-debt to-capital ratio is net debt divided by the sum of net debt and total equity of $276.4 billion.
ADVANCING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
Hydrogen
ADNOC acquired a 35% equity stake in the company's hydrogen production facility in Baytown, Texas. The proposed project is expected to produce virtually carbon-free hydrogen, with approximately 98% of carbon dioxide (CO2) captured and stored.
ExxonMobil also signed a Project Framework Agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation for the offtake of low-carbon ammonia and equity participation in the Baytown project. It joined JERA, Japan’s largest power generator, which signed a similar agreement in March.
Contingent on the U.S. federal government implementing regulations that are consistent with the Inflation Reduction Act's legislative intent, the Baytown facility is expected to be the world’s largest of its kind upon startup, capable of producing up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day and more than 1 million tons of low-carbon ammonia per year. A final investment decision is expected in 2025 with anticipated startup in 2029.
Carbon Capture and Storage
ExxonMobil signed its fifth CCS agreement to transport and store up to 1.2 million metric tons of CO2 per year from the New Generation Gas Gathering (NG3) project being built in Louisiana. NG3 will gather and treat natural gas produced in east Texas and Louisiana for delivery to U.S. Gulf Coast markets, including for LNG export. This is ExxonMobil's first agreement with a natural gas processing customer and brings the total contracted CO2 to store for customers up to 6.7 million metric tons per year. No other company has more announced CO2 offtake under contract than ExxonMobil1.
The company secured the largest offshore CO2 storage site in the United States through an agreement with the Texas General Land Office. The 271,000-acre site complements the onshore CO2 storage portfolio the company is developing and further solidifies ExxonMobil as the company of choice for carbon capture, transport and storage across the U.S. Gulf Coast. Proceeds from the agreement directly benefit the Texas Permanent School Fund, which enhances education for Texas children.
Products Supporting a Lower-Emissions Future
ExxonMobil acquired the exclusive overseas licensing rights for Neuvokas Corporation’s proprietary composite rebar manufacturing process. ExxonMobil’s ProxximaTM polyolefin thermoset resin system paired with this patented process delivers a cost-effective, corrosion free, lightweight, and long-lasting rebar as an alternative to steel. This collaboration marks a significant step towards expanding the global market of composite rebar. ProxximaTM resin is made by transforming lower-value gasoline molecules into a high-value, lower-emission product that can be used in high-performance coatings, light-weight construction materials, and advanced composites for cars and trucks – including battery boxes for electric vehicles. The company estimates a total potential addressable market of $30 billion dollars by 2030 for ProxximaTM2.
As part of its Carbon Materials Venture, ExxonMobil has developed proprietary technology that allows the company to produce feedstock for next-generation graphite at scale for the electric vehicle (EV) battery market. Carbon material products are made by transforming the molecular structure of low-value heavy fuel oil from the company's refining process into high-value products, resulting in a thousands-of-dollars-per-ton uplift. This next-generation graphite potentially provides a 30% improvement in EV battery range as well as faster charges. This market could grow at 25% per year and reach $30 billion dollars by 20303.
Earnings and volume summary by segment: Upstream
Upstream year-to-date earnings were $18.9 billion, $1.7 billion higher than the same period last year. The prior-year period was negatively impacted by tax-related identified items. Excluding identified items, earnings increased $1.5 billion due to advantaged assets volume growth from record Guyana, heritage Permian and Pioneer production, and structural cost savings. These factors were partly offset by higher depreciation expense, and lower base volumes from divestments of non-strategic assets and government-mandated curtailments. Year-to-date net production was 4.2 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, an increase of 14%, or 534,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day.
Third-quarter earnings were $6.2 billion, a decrease of $916 million from the second quarter driven by lower crude realizations and higher exploration expenses, partly offset by production, which included the highest liquids volumes in 40 years, and structural cost savings. Net production in the third quarter of 4.6 million oil-equivalent barrels per day was up 5%, or 224,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day versus the prior period. A full quarter of Pioneer volumes was partially offset by lower Guyana volumes as Liza phases 1 and 2 were taken offline to complete planned facility tie-ins for the country's gas-to-energy project.
Earnings and volume summary by segment: Energy Products
Energy Products year-to-date earnings were $3.6 billion compared to $8.9 billion in the same period last year due to significantly weaker industry refining margins, which declined from historically high levels as supply from industry capacity additions outpaced record global demand. Earnings improvement from structural cost savings and advantaged projects, including incremental volumes from the Beaumont refinery expansion, partially offset the impacts from higher scheduled maintenance and non-core refinery divestments. Favorable timing effects, mainly from the absence of prior year unfavorable derivatives mark-to-market impacts, provided a partial offset to the earnings decline.
Third-quarter earnings totaled $1.3 billion, an increase of $0.4 billion from the second quarter. Lower scheduled maintenance and favorable derivatives mark-to-market timing effects more than offset lower industry refining margins and impacts from a tornado-related shutdown at the Joliet refinery in Illinois, which had a safe and rapid restart ahead of expectations.
Earnings and volume summary by segment: Chemical Products
Chemical Products year-to-date earnings were $2.5 billion, an increase of $1.0 billion versus the first nine months of 2023. Despite bottom-of-cycle market conditions, overall margins increased from the prior year as a result of the company's advantaged North America footprint, which benefited from lower ethane feed costs, and improved high-value product realizations. Record high-value product sales, which grew 9% year-over-year, and structural cost savings more than offset higher expenses from planned maintenance and strategic growth projects that start up in 2025.
Third-quarter earnings were $893 million, the highest quarter in over two years, compared to $779 million in the second quarter driven by improved margins from lower North America feed costs and growth in high-value product sales.
Earnings and volume summary by segment: Specialty Products
Specialty Products delivered consistently strong earnings from its portfolio of high-value products. Year-to-date earnings were a record $2.3 billion1, an increase of $242 million compared with the first nine months of 2023 driven by improved basestock and finished lubes margins, structural cost savings, and higher sales volumes including record Mobil 1TM sales. These factors were partly offset by unfavorable foreign exchange impacts and higher expenses including marketing activities and spending to build ProxximaTM resin and carbon material products – new high-growth, high-margin businesses.
Third-quarter earnings were $794 million, compared to $751 million in the second quarter. Higher industry basestock margins were partly offset by unfavorable tax and foreign exchange effects.
Earnings and volume summary by segment: Corporate and Financing
Year-to-date net charges of $1,216 million were comparable to last year.
Corporate and Financing third-quarter net charges of $544 million increased $234 million versus the second quarter driven by unfavorable foreign exchange impacts and higher financing costs.
