Oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron posted lower first-quarter earnings on Friday, hurt by narrow refining margins, lower oil prices and rising costs, reported Xinhua.
"Their outlook has dimmed since the end of the quarter," reported The Wall Street Journal about the development.
Oil prices have dropped sharply in the wake of U.S. President Trump's April 2 tariff blitz, presenting a new test of the U.S. oil majors' ability to keep profits and payouts to investors aloft, the report said.
For years following the pandemic, both companies have trimmed billions in costs to reassure investors that they are prepared to weather the next downturn in oil prices.
This week, a barrel of oil fetched about 17 percent less than it did before the U.S. tariff announcement. Since then, investors have erased more than 90 billion U.S. dollars from the combined stock-market values of Exxon and Chevron.
"We've navigated cycles before, and we'll do it again," Eimear Bonner, Chevron's chief financial officer, was quoted as saying. So far, she said, Chevron isn't planning to stray from its investment plans and believes the tariffs will have only a small direct impact on its business.
- Exxon
- Chevron
- profit
- Fall
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
