Exxon Mobil Corp. said in a filing late Monday that its first-quarter profit could top $9 billion, thanks in part to billions more from rising crude prices.
Exxon
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estimated between $1.9 billion and $2.3 billion over fourth-quarter profit due to crude-price changes and up to about $400 million in gas-price changes.
Thinner margins in its chemical business, impairments related to leaving Russia, and other factors will offset its otherwise upbeat view, the company said in the filing. The company logged $8.8 billion earnings in the fourth quarter.
Exxon said in the Monday filing that it intended to give investors “perspective” about market and other “planned factors” affecting its quarterly report, and that it was not an estimate, since it does not incorporate foreign-exchange fluctuations, any unscheduled downtime, and other impacts.
Exxon is scheduled to report late this month, and FactSet consensus calls for adjusted per-share earnings of $2.17, which would compare with an adjusted EPS of 65 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.
Monday’s news could give rise to calls in the U.S. and in Europe for profit-windfall levies connected with rising crude
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and gas prices and rising gasoline
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prices as well.
A U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations plans to have executives from major oil companies, including Exxon, Chevron Corp.
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and BP PLC
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testify at a hearing Wednesday titled “Gouged at the Gas Station: Big Oil and America’s Pain at the Pump.”
According to travel and leisure company AAA, U.S. gas prices averaged $4.189 a gallon on Monday, 46% higher than the average $2.873 a gallon a year ago. That’s down 3.3% from AAA’s highest recorded average of $4.331 on March 11.
Shares of Exxon have gained 45% in the past 12 months, compared with gains of around 14% for the S&P 500 index
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and 53% for the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF.
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