By Bradley Olson and Anne Steele 

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, saw its profit plunge 63% to the lowest level since 1999, a year when it nearly doubled in size by acquiring rival Mobil in an $80 billion deal.

The sharp decline came amid a loss from its business producing oil and natural gas, one that largely came from flagging operations in U.S. shale basins. Profits from refining oil into products such as gasoline and diesel, an area that had helped the company weather the blow of lower prices in the past 18 months, also fell by almost half.

Investors shrugged off the declines, reflecting optimism stemming from a recent rally in crude prices as the company beat analyst expectations. Shares of Exxon edged up 0.3% in premarket trading to $88.25 and are up more than 10% this year.

"The market is already looking past these results since oil is up almost 80% from earlier lows," said Brian Youngberg, an energy analyst with Edward Jones. "The expectation was that earnings were going to be really bad for the entire sector, but many companies did better."

Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company after Exxon, reported a loss of $725 million, was wider than analysts expected. Shares initially fell 1.6% in premarket trading to $100.74 after the San Ramon, Calif.-based company reported its second-straight quarterly loss.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon reported a profit of $1.81 billion, or 43 cents a share, down from $4.94 billion, or $1.17 a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit of 31 cents. Revenue dropped 28% to $48.71 billion. Analysts had forecast revenue declining to $48.14 billion.

Profit in the exploration and production, or upstream, business swung to a $76 million loss. In the U.S., the upstream division widened its loss to $832 million from $52 million a year earlier.

Exxon also was hurt by declining profit in the downstream division, which had previously been a boon amid lower prices for oil and gas.

In the latest quarter, refining and marketing earnings, or downstream, plunged 46% to $906 million. Exxon said weaker margins decreased earnings by $860 million while volume and mix effects increased earnings by $10 million.

Exxon said it cut its capital spending by 33% from the prior year to $5.13 billion.

Exxon has moved to conserve cash as oil and gas prices languish at their lowest levels in more than a decade.

Oil companies around the world have been battered by a price crash that has left crude and natural gas stubbornly low. Producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and major international oil companies like Chevron have all continued to pump more fuel in the face of the crisis -- a standoff that shows no signs of abating.

Write to Bradley Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com and Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2016 09:47 ET (13:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Exxon Mobil Charts.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Exxon Mobil Charts.