IRVING, Texas -- Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman Rex W. Tillerson said second-quarter 2008 earnings were a record $11.97 billion, up 17% from second-quarter 2007. Net income for the second quarter was $11.68 billion, up 14% from second-quarter 2007. Net income of $22.570billion for first-half 2008 was a record and was up $3.03 billion or 16% versus 2007.
Second-quarter 2008 upstream earnings were $10.012billion, up $4.059billion from the second quarter of 2007. Earnings from U.S. Upstream operations were $2.034billion, $812million higher than second-quarter 2007.
Second-quarter downstream [image-nocss] earnings of $1.558billion were down $1.835billion from second-quarter 2007 as lower margins reduced earnings by $1.9billion, driven by significantly lower worldwide refining margins. U.S. downstream earnings were $293million, down $1.452billion from second-quarter 2007.
First-half 2008 upstream earnings were a record $18.797billion, up $6.803billion from 2007. First-half 2008 earnings from U.S. upstream operations were $3.665billion, an increase of $1.266billion.
First-half 2008 downstream earnings of $2.724billion were $2.581billion lower than 2007. Lower worldwide refining and marketing margins decreased earnings approximately $2.9billion while higher operating costs reduced earnings about $300million. Improved refinery operations increased earnings about $600million. U.S. downstream earnings were $691million, down $1.893billion.
Irving, Texas-based ExxonMobil is engaged in exploration and production, refining and marketing and has approximately 13,000 Exxon and Mobil branded service stations in the United States.
Other recent earnings reports:
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. has reported net income of $82 million for second-quarter 2008 versus $509 million for second-quarter 2007. For first-half 2008, Sunoco reported net income of $23 million versus $684 million in first-half 2007.
"Despite a challenging market environment for refining and an unprecedented increase in crude oil prices that also squeezed retail gasoline and chemicals margins, results were improved from the first quarter due to higher refining margins that accompanied strong contributions from our logistics and coke segments," said John G. Drosdick, Sunoco chairman and CEO.
"The Refining& Supply business unit earned $32 million. While gasoline margins remained weak and refinery utilization was limited by maintenance activity and economically driven rate reductions, we were able to optimize our production for the difficult market conditions," he added. "Sunoco's nonrefining businesses earned $47 million in the second quarter. The steady rise throughout the quarter in wholesale gasoline…costs limited earnings in Retail Marketing."
Commenting on the company's outlook for the third quarter, Drosdick said, "Despite the recent decline in crude oil prices, refining margins, specifically for gasoline, continue to be weak. Efforts to optimize our refining system in the third quarter will focus on expanding our slate of light, sweet crude oils to include those that trade at lower prices while running our crude units at rates that reflect the current challenging market conditions. The contribution from the nonrefining businesses, particularly Retail Marketing, should show improvement from second quarter levels."
Refining & Supply earned $32 million in second-quarter 2008 versus $482 million in second-quarter 2007. The decrease in earnings was due to significantly lower realized margins along with higher expenses and lower production volumes. The lower margins reflect the negative impact of higher average crude oil costs and lower product demand than a year ago, especially for gasoline, while the higher expenses were largely the result of increased prices for purchased fuel and utilities.
Retail Marketing had breakeven results in second-quarter 2008 versus income of $30 million in second-quarter 2007. The decrease in earnings was primarily due to lower average retail gasoline margins and lower divestment gains attributable to the Retail Portfolio Management program.
With 910,000 barrels per day of refining capacity, approximately 4,700 retail sites selling gasoline and convenience items, approximately 5,500 miles of crude oil and refined product owned and operated pipelines and 38 product terminals, Philadelphia-based Sunoco is one of the largest independent refiner-marketers in the United States.
Chevron
Chevron Corp. has reported net income of $6 billion for second-quarter 2008, compared with $5.4 billion in the year-ago period. For first-half 2008, net income was $11.1 billion, up 10% from $10.1 billion in the first six months of 2007.
Sales and other operating revenues in second-quarter 2008 were $81 billion, compared with $54 billion in the year-ago quarter. First-half 2008 sales and other operating revenues were $146 billion, versus $101 billion in the corresponding 2007 period.
"Earnings for our upstream operations benefited from prices for crude oil that were significantly higher than a year ago," said chairman and CEO Dave O'Reilly. "In our downstream business, the increase in the price of crude oil had an opposite effect. The higher cost of crude oil used in the refining process was not fully recovered in the price of gasoline and other refined products. As a result, our downstream operations incurred a loss in the second quarter, with most of the loss taking place in the United States." O'Reilly said the effects of planned refinery downtime also contributed to the U.S. loss in the period.
U.S. upstream income of $2.2 billion in second-quarter 2008 increased nearly $1 billion from the same period last year, driven by higher prices for crude oil and natural gas. Partially offsetting the benefit of higher prices were increases in operating expenses, the impact of lower production and the absence of gains on second-quarter 2007 asset sales.
U.S. downstream incurred a loss of $682 million in second-quarter 2008, compared with income of $781 million in the year-ago period. The loss was mainly associated with sharply higher costs of crude-oil feedstocks used in the refining process that could not be fully recovered in the sales price of gasoline and other refined products. Operating expenses were also higher between periods, including expenses associated with planned shutdowns for refinery maintenance.
Branded gasoline sales volumes were down 5% between quarters to 596,000 barrels per day.
San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and other energy products; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops and commercializes the energy resources of the future, including biofuels and other renewables.Tesoro
Tesoro Corp. reported second-quarter 2008 net earnings of $4 million. Net income for second-quarter 2007 was $443 million.
In comparison to last year, lower gross refining margins and higher operating costs were met with reduced refining throughput, said Bruce Smith, Tesoro's chairman, president and CEO.
San Antonio-based Tesoro is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products. Through its subsidiaries, it operates seven refineries in the western United States with a combined capacity of approximately 660,000 barrels per day. Tesoro's retail-marketing system includes more than 900 branded retail stations, of which nearly 445 are company operated under the Tesoro, Shell, Mirastar and USA Gasoline brands.Western Refining
Western Refining Inc. has reported second-quarter 2008 net income of $8.2 million. Its net income was $155 million for the same period in 2007.
The decline in operating income was primarily the result of lower refined product margins. The decline in margins was the result of increasing crude oil and other feedstock costs, coupled with softness in finished product prices, particularly gasoline and lower valued products. Higher margins on diesel offset some of the impact of these lower margins.
The financial information for second-quarter 2008 includes the results of the three refineries and the wholesale and retail operations acquired from Giant on May 31, 2007. The acquired operations of Giant are not included in the operating results prior to May 31, 2007.
"We have made significant progress in improving the performance of our operations notwithstanding the challenging industry fundamentals that are impacting financial results," said Paul Foster, Western's president and CEO.
Commenting on current market conditions, Foster said, "Diesel margins continue to be strong and we are experiencing significant improvement in asphalt margins as asphalt prices have increased and the price of crude oil has declined. Gasoline margins continue to be lower than historical levels as a result of reduced consumer demand and product inventory builds."
Western Refining is an independent refining and marketing company headquartered in El Paso, Texas. It has a refinery in El Paso, two refineries in the Four Corners region of northern New Mexico and a refinery in Yorktown, Va. Western's asset portfolio also includes refined products terminals in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Ariz., retail stations and convenience stores in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, a fleet of crude oil and finished product truck transports, and wholesale petroleum products operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah.
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