In plain words
ExxonMobil earned $15.4 billion in the three months to September, $3.72 a share, about twice the $7.5 billion it earned a year earlier. Sales rose to $110.5 billion from $83.3 billion. The reason is refining. With refining in Russia and the Middle East still curtailed, Exxon says roughly a tenth of the world's refining capacity was offline, and the margin for turning crude into diesel and petrol jumped. Exxon's indicative refining margin was $50.3 a barrel, against $29.0 in the second quarter. Its fuels business made more money than its oil and gas fields. The quarter produced $19.1 billion of free cash. Exxon paid $9.4 billion to shareholders and used most of the rest to cut net debt by more than $9 billion.
The finding
This was a refining quarter, and Exxon is banking the windfall on its balance sheet. Energy Products, Exxon's refining and fuels arm, earned $9.1 billion on an adjusted basis, up from $4.1 billion in the second quarter. Upstream, the oil and gas fields, earned $7.3 billion, down from $9.2 billion. Higher prices and margins added $3.6 billion to adjusted earnings from the second quarter, more than the whole $2.8 billion increase (AB Desk calc: 127%). Exxon held its 2027 buyback plan at $20 billion, the same pace as 2026, and cut net debt to $22.1 billion. Chief executive Darren Woods says in the release that these are lasting improvements, not simply the result of favourable prices and margins. The quarter's own arithmetic says price did the heavy lifting.
Market reaction: XOM traded at $187.25, up 2.16% from its $183.29 close (CNBC, close Oct 30).
For educational purposes only; not investment advice.
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