ExxonMobil's annual profit broke the western oil industry record

American energy giant ExxonMobil released its performance report for the fourth quarter of last year. The company achieved a profit of 12.75 billion US dollars in the quarter, and the annual profit reached 55.74 billion US dollars. This not only broke the company's record, but also set a record high in the western oil industry.

The specific financial report shows that ExxonMobil recorded a profit of US $12.75 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, up nearly 44% from US $8.87 billion in the same period of 2021, and the adjusted earnings per share was US $3.40, stronger than the market's previous estimate of US $3.30.

In the whole year, the company achieved a profit of US $55.74 billion in 2022, 2.4 times that of US $23.04 billion in 2021. This also means that ExxonMobil earned an average of about 6.3 million dollars per hour last year.

The last time ExxonMobil broke the annual record was in 2008, when the oil price once rose to $142 per barrel, bringing the company's profit to $45.2 billion. Some analysts pointed out that one of the main reasons why the company's profits could reach a new high in 2022 was that it cut costs significantly in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kathryn Mikells, chief financial officer of ExxonMobil, told the media that in addition to profits, the company's cash flow also recorded a significant year-on-year growth. "This comes from a strong market, huge throughput, strong production and very good cost control."

"ExxonMobil makes more money than God"

Media analysis pointed out that ExxonMobil's record profits may trigger a new round of confrontation between the energy industry and the White House. Last Friday, Chevron also recorded a record annual profit of US $36.5 billion, announced the implementation of US $75 billion share repurchase, and increased its dividend for the 36th consecutive quarter.

A few hours after the release of Chevron's announcement, the White House issued a harsh criticism. "Not long ago, a company claimed to strive to increase production. Surprisingly, he distributed $75 billion to executives and shareholders."

In the middle of last year, due to the long-term imbalance between supply and demand in the oil and gas market, coupled with geopolitical and other factors, the international oil price and the price of gasoline in the United States once soared, leading to the rise of inflation in the United States to the highest level in 40 years, which had a huge negative impact on the economy. At that time, the macro environment even made the market believe that the Democratic Party would lose the mid-term elections at the end of the year.

In order to stabilize the domestic oil price, the United States government has repeatedly sold its strategic oil reserves. In June last year, US President Joe Biden complained at a conference that the energy giants had made "crisis money", and also named ExxonMobil "making more money than God".