XOM Exxon Mobil Corp

By Anne Steele 

Exxon Mobil Corp. reported a 40% decline in profit in the final quarter of the year as the oil and gas giant booked a hefty charge, though revenue ticked up for the first time after nine straight quarterly declines.

Still, the increase in revenue wasn't as big as Wall Street expected, and shares inched 0.1% lower premarket to $84.75.

Chief Executive Darren Woods pointed to the prolonged downturn in commodity prices as well as an impairment charge for the decline in earnings. Mr. Woods took the helm this month from Rex Tillerson, who was tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as U.S. Secretary of State.

For the December period, Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, reported its profit fell to $1.68 billion, or 41 cents a share, from $2.78 billion, or 67 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for 70 cents a share.

The company said it completed an asset recoverability review during the quarter and booked a U.S. upstream asset-impairment charge of about $2 billion, mainly related to dry gas operations with undeveloped acreage in the Rocky Mountains region of the U.S. Excluding the impairment charge, earnings grew to $3.7 billion, due to higher liquids realizations partly offset by weaker refining margins.

Revenue edged 2% higher to $61.01 billion, the first increase in many quarters but still below analysts' forecast for $62.28 billion.

The exploration and production, or upstream, business posted a $642 million loss, including the $2 billion impairment. Excluding the charge, earnings were $1.4 billion, up from $528 million in the quarter the year before. In the U.S., the upstream division widened its loss to $2.32 billion from $538 million a year earlier.

In the refining and marketing, or downstream, business -- which had previously been a boon amid lower prices for oil and gas -- earnings were $1.2 billion, $110 million lower than in the year-earlier period. Exxon blamed weaker refining and marketing margins despite favorable volume and mix.

Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 31, 2017 08:47 ET (13:47 GMT)

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