Exxon’s profit, excluding special items, came to $17.6 billion in the second quarter, nearly double its first-quarter profit, as oil and gas prices began to rise after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Profit for the second quarter was up 273% from the same period last year.
Chevron earned $11.4 billion excluding special items, up 74% from the first quarter and 247% from a year earlier.
Including one-time items, both earned hundreds of millions more: ExxonMobil’s net income came in at $17.9 billion, while Chevron brought in $11.6 billion.
ExxonMobil’s net income was $2,245.62 every second of every day of the 92-day quarter. On that basis, Chevron earned $1,462.11 per second.
Since it takes about two minutes to pump 20 gallons of gas, that means the two oil giants made more than $400,000 between them in the time it took you to fill your tank.
Reuters reported that it was a record profit for both companies – although neither mentioned that in their statement, as companies tend to do when their profits hit all-time highs.
Oil prices have started to fall recently, and gas prices are falling with them. AAA puts the average price of gasoline on Friday at $4.26 a gallon. That’s down 76 cents a gallon, or 15%, from the record high of $5.02 a gallon hit on June 14. But one of the main reasons for that decline is growing fears among investors trading oil and gasoline futures that the nation is headed for a recession. And if so, a major reason is that the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates at historically rapid rates in an effort to bring inflation under control. And high gas prices are a major driver of these price increases. The U.S. economy has contracted in size in each of the past two quarters, a popular shorthand for recession. Although economists debate whether the economy is already in recession or one is on the way, many consumers believe that we are already in an economic downturn. High gas prices are one reason they feel that way. Shares of ExxonMobil ( XOM ) and Chevron ( CVX ) rose in premarket trade on better-than-expected earnings. ExxonMobil shares were up more than 50% this year through Thursday’s close, while Chevron shares had gained more than 30%, making them among the best performers in the Dow Jones industrial average.
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