ExxonMobil posts second-quarter earnings miss amid lower natural gas prices

Investing.com -- ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) has reported lower-than-anticipated profit in the second quarter, as the largest U.S. oil major was hit by a decline in natural gas prices.

Earnings during the three months ended on June 30 dropped to $7.9 billion, or $1.94 per diluted share, missing Bloomberg consensus estimates that had seen the figure at $2.00. Exxon previously posted record profit of $11.34B in the first quarter.

Lower natural gas prices impacted Texas-based Exxon's key upstream business, which registered income of $4.6B -- a decrease of $1.9B from the prior quarter. Seasonally higher scheduled maintenance also dented returns at the unit, Exxon said.

Exxon's results come after European peers Shell (LON:SHEL) and TotalEnergies (EPA:TTEF) also saw profits shrink as a surge in energy markets following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, which had fuelled bumper returns for oil and gas majors, waned. Elevated interest rates in the U.S., the world's top oil consumer, and a sputtering post-pandemic recovery in leading crude-importer China have weighed on oil prices throughout 2023.

Brent crude shed about 13% year-to-date as of June 30, according to Reuters, although the global benchmark could receive support in the coming months from planned output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

In a statement, Exxon chief executive Darren Woods defended the results, saying they "doubled from what we earned in a comparable industry commodity price environment just five years ago." Woods also noted that the company is "on track" to bring down costs by $9B by the end of the year compared to 2019 levels.

Shares in Exxon slipped in premarket U.S. trading Friday.