Exxon Mobil profit doubles to $15.4 billion and Chevron's nearly triples as refining earnings surge

Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported sharply higher third-quarter profits on Friday 30 October, led by their refining businesses.

Exxon said profit doubled to $15.4 billion, or $3.72 a share, from $7.5 billion a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were $4.23 a share, against $4.08 expected by analysts polled by LSEG, CNBC reported. Revenue was $113.2 billion. Exxon’s refining division earned about $7.2 billion, more than its oil and gas production business, and its US Gulf Coast refineries ran at full capacity, according to CNBC.

Chevron’s net income rose to $9.9 billion, or $5.06 a share, from $3.5 billion a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were $5.28 a share, against $4.89 expected, on revenue of $67.8 billion. Its refining profit rose to $4.9 billion from $1.1 billion, and its US refineries processed a record amount of crude at 98% of capacity, CNBC said. Chevron’s oil and gas output slipped to about 3.9 million barrels a day.

CNBC linked the gains to high diesel prices after attacks on refineries in Russia and the Middle East. “Refining capacity is very tight today,” Exxon chief executive Darren Woods told CNBC. Chevron chief executive Mike Wirth said: “The system is under stress.”

CNBC noted that President Donald Trump said in August that the two companies “were making too much money based on a shortage.”

Both stocks touched record highs on Friday, CNBC reported. As of 17:51 GMT, Exxon was up 1.6%, and Chevron was up 1.8% as of 17:25 GMT, according to Yahoo Finance data.