Exxon Mobil Corporation today announced first-quarter 2023 earnings of $11.4 billion, or $2.79 per share assuming dilution. Results included unfavorable identified items of approximately $200 million associated with additional European taxes on the energy sector. Capital and exploration expenditures were $6.4 billion, on track to meet the company's full year guidance of $23 billion to $25 billion.

• Delivered record first quarter earnings of $11.4 billion, demonstrating structural earnings improvements through growth of advantaged assets, mix improvements, and cost and execution efficiencies
• Increased oil and gas net production by nearly 300,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day versus first-quarter 2022, excluding divestments, entitlements, and Sakhalin-1 expropriation
• Started up the Beaumont Refinery expansion and reached full capacity of 250,000 barrels of production per day to help meet global demand
• Announced final investment decision for the Uaru offshore development and two new discoveries in Guyana
• Grew Low Carbon Solutions business with the execution of a new long-term customer contract for carbon capture, transportation, and storage

Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer, commented:
“Our people's hard work to execute on our strategic priorities delivered a record first quarter following a record year.”

“We are growing value by increasing production from our advantaged assets to meet global demand. At the same time, our Low Carbon Solutions team is rapidly growing this new business with an additional carbon capture, transportation and storage agreement that underscores the company's growing momentum in providing industrial customers with large-scale emission reduction solutions.”

Financial Highlights

• First-quarter 2023 earnings were $11.4 billion compared with $12.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. Excluding the identified item associated with additional European taxes on the energy sector, earnings were $11.6 billion compared to $14.0 billion in the prior quarter. Identified items in the fourth quarter included a higher impact from the additional European taxes on the energy sector, asset impairments, and one-time adjustments related to the Sakhalin-1 expropriation.
• Lower liquids and natural gas realizations coupled with the absence of favorable mark-to-market impacts on unsettled derivatives, fewer days in the quarter, and higher scheduled maintenance negatively impacted results sequentially. These impacts were partially offset by higher volumes, mix improvements driven by advantaged project growth, strong operating execution, and disciplined cost management. Results also benefited from the absence of year-end inventory effects and lower corporate and financing costs.
• The company remains on track to deliver $9 billion of structural cost savings by the end of 2023 relative to 2019, having achieved cumulative structural cost savings of $7.2 billion to date.
• Cash flow from operations totaled $16.3 billion, and free cash flow was $11.4 billion for the quarter. The company's debt-to-capital ratio remained at 17% and the net-debt-to-capital ratio declined to about 4%, reflecting a period-end cash balance of $32.7 billion.
• Upstream earnings were $6.5 billion, a decrease of $1.7 billion from the fourth quarter. The main drivers were lower prices, with crude and natural gas realizations down 10% and 23%, respectively, and unfavorable unsettled derivatives mark-to-market effects of $2.0 billion, largely reflecting the absence of a positive mark-to-market impact in the prior quarter. These impacts were partially offset by robust cost control and seasonally lower expenses, the absence of year-end inventory effects, and favorable volume/mix effects from advantaged growth in the Permian, Guyana, and LNG. Identified items unfavorably impacted earnings by $158 million this quarter, down from $561 million in the previous quarter. Earnings excluding identified items decreased from $8.8 billion to $6.6 billion.
• Compared to the same quarter last year, earnings increased $2 billion. The prior-year period was negatively impacted by an identified item associated with the Sakhalin-1 expropriation. Excluding identified items, earnings declined $1.1 billion year over year, driven by a 23% decrease in crude realizations, partly offset by higher production volumes.

Operational Highlights

• Net production in the first quarter was 3.8 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, an increase of nearly 160,000  oil-equivalent barrels per day compared to the same quarter last year. Excluding divestments, entitlements and  the Sakhalin-1 expropriation, net production increased nearly 300,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day driven by advantaged projects in Guyana and the Permian.
• The company announced its final investment decision for the Uaru development in Guyana. This is the fifth offshore project and is expected to provide an additional 250,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day of gross capacity with start-up targeted for 2026. In addition, two new exploration discoveries were made this year.

KeyFacts Energy: ExxonMobil US country profile