The two largest US oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp, posted record revenue in Q2 2022 on Friday.
With crude surging above $100 a barrel shortly after the Russian invasion on Ukraine, and refining margins climbing due to tight plant capacity, ExxonMobil reported $17.9 billion in profits and Chevron $11.6 billion in the just-finished second quarter.
The results come on the heels of similarly jaw-dropping figures from European petroleum heavyweights, with Shell reporting $18 billion in profits, Total Energies $5.7 billion and Eni $3.8 billion.
Crude prices traded between $95 and $120 a barrel during the quarter, as the war and the wave of sanctions on Moscow lifted the oil market back to levels last seen in 2008.
On Friday, both companies reported higher oil and natural gas volumes in the United States, with ExxonMobil boosted by an increased 130,000 barrels of oil-equivalent in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, and Chevron notching a three percent rise in US volumes.
ExxonMobil plans to add 250,000 barrels per day of refining capacity at its Beaumont, Texas plant in the first quarter of 2023, representing “the industry's largest single capacity addition in the US since 2012,” ExxonMobil Chief Executive Darren Woods said in a news release.
Both companies reported big increases in revenues, with Exxon Mobil's jumping 71% to $115.7 billion and Chevron 83% to $69 billion.
This rise is considered one of the main factors behind the global inflation that hit unprecedented levels for decades in the United States and Europe.
Inflation is already changing where Americans go and what they eat. It's also changing the way they consume energy. Inflation in Europe has also been surging, including soaring costs for energy.
The two companies, which suffered significant financial losses early in the COVID-19 pandemic as petroleum demand tanked, have not used the mountains of cash from higher prices to significantly lift capital spending, which remains below the level prior to the pandemic.
Instead, the companies have been steering funds to shareholders. ExxonMobil paid out $7.6 billion in distributions during the quarter, while Chevron lifted the top end of its annual share repurchase range to $15 billion from $10 billion.
Shares of ExxonMobil jumped 4.1% to $96.39 in trading near midday, while Chevron leaped 8.5% higher to $163.19.
The ensuing surge in US gasoline prices to an all-time high in mid-June has squeezed American families and pressured President Joe Biden, who has had a fractious relationship with ExxonMobil and Chevron and the oil industry more generally.
In June, Biden ripped the industry for spending excess cash on share buybacks instead of significantly boosting capital spending.
