Earnings plunged year/year to $2.04 billion ($1.09/share) from $5.6 billion ($2.95). That’s a 67 percent jump from $19.74 a year earlier. And depending on business conditions, Watson expects even further spending cuts in 2017 and 2018. “We are focused on improving results by changing outcomes within our control”. The oil company announced Friday that it would be cutting between 6,000 and 7,000 employees, according to The Guardian. Vice president of investor relations Jeffrey Woodbury told analysts that Exxon has “continuously… right-sized our global function organization” and has the same number of employees today that it had in 1999, before its merger with Mobil.
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Explorers are expected to slash spending on deepwater wells by 20 percent to 25 percent next year, compared with a 3 percent to 8 percent overall reduction on all types of fields, according to Barclays Plc analysts including J. David Anderson. The average price for natural gas was $1.96 per thousand cubic feet, down from $3.46 in the prior-year. Watson said prices eventually will rise as production slows in response to low prices, but he said it is hard to know when that will happen.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) reported their third quarter of fiscal year 2015 (3QFY15) results on Friday before the opening bells.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Revenue fell 27 per cent to $US67.34 billion. That was substantially higher than the 76 cents per share the now pessimistic analysts had estimated.
AbbVie’s third-quarter earnings more than doubled in a performance that topped expectations. The price average from July to September was $51.30 for a barrel.
Under pressure from Wall Street, Watson committed to keeping Chevron’s dividend, now at US$1.07 a share. The company is now planning for around $60 per barrel price for Brent crude until at least 2017. In the last two years we’ve generated $11 billion in proceeds. And of that total $500 million were used to purchase shares. Exxon’s workforce was 16% larger, but the company pumped 54% more oil and gas than Chevron during the third quarter.
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Chevron United States of America Inc.is the operator and holds a 55% stake with with co-owners Cobalt global Energy LP (20%), Samson Offshore Anchor LLC (12.5%) and Venari Resources LLC (12.5%). ConocoPhillips, the biggest U.S. shale driller, reported a loss of $US1.1 billion and announced new plans to trim spending. The share price rushed nearly 31.98% in the last one month while its 52 week high is $65.50. The per-share result was 33 cents more than the average of 21 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
