Exxon’s Historic Losses Multiply on Virus-Driven Crude Slump
(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. incurred an unprecedented second straight quarterly loss as almost every facet of the oil giant's business slumped amid Covid-19 lockdowns that stunted economic activity.
The explorer's oil and natural gas unit took a hit of as much as $3.1 billion as prices for those commodities slumped, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday. Margins in Exxon's refining business contracted by almost $1 billion while the chemical unit teetered on the edge of a loss.
The guidance suggests the company will post a per-share loss of 69 cents at the midpoint range, excluding certain items, according to Cowen & Co. That would be worse than the 55-cent adjusted average loss forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 16 analysts.
“Given the current environment, XOM will likely need to continue defending its long-term view of energy growth that underpins its counter-cyclical capex program that could ramp back up next year,” Cowen analysts including Jason Gabelman wrote in a note to clients.
Major oil and gas producers from Norway to the U.S. saw profit plunge in the opening three months of the year. Exxon reported its first quarterly loss in modern history during the January-to-March period, and that was only the result of the initial spread of the coronavirus.
Things got even worse in the second quarter after the global pandemic and the aftermath of a Saudi-Russian market-share war temporarily pushed oil prices into negative territory.
Exxon's challenges extend beyond the full quarterly results it's scheduled to release on July 31. The company's debt load is expected to swell to a record $57 billion as it relies on borrowed money to sustain dividend payouts amid negative cash flow, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said on Wednesday.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
