Oil magnate ExxonMobil has just provided grist for the mill of supporters of the redistribution of wealth and whistleblowers of “war profiteering”. The black gold giant posted a record profit of $55.7 billion in 2022, almost $33 billion more than in 2021, and $10 billion above the previous record, which dates back to 2008.
From January to December 2022, the stock soared more than 80% on the New York Stock Exchange. “Our results clearly benefited from a favorable market, but the counter-cyclical investments made before and during the pandemic provided the energy and products that people needed when the economy started to recover and supplies tightened. lessened,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It’s time for Big Oil to do its part”
What Darren Woods means by “favorable market” is therefore the recovery of the post-Covid 19 economy, boosted by public aid, and the drying up of Russian oil due to the war in Ukraine. Something to jump at the White House. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden tweeted that the only thing “stopping big oil companies from ramping up production is their decision to pay out billions to shareholders instead of reinvesting profits.” “I’m doing my part to bring prices down, it’s time for Big Oil to do its part,” he wrote.
A White House spokesman had earlier told the BBC that Exxon’s record profits were “scandalous”, especially after “the American people were forced to pay such high prices at the pumps” following of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The European tax on superprofits, a thorn in the side of a giant
Group revenue was $413.7 billion, up 45% from 2021 and above market forecasts. After posting a historic loss and being removed from the prestigious Dow Jones index in 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, Exxon returned to the green in 2021, before seeing its profits explode in 2022.
The recovery of the global economy has also contributed to maintaining oil prices at high levels. The average price per gallon (3.8 liters) of unleaded fuel in the United States thus reached a historic peak of more than 5 dollars last June, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).
For Peter McNally of Third Bridge, ExxonMobil, which is in solid health, “has financial flexibility and many investment options”. The major has “carried out several key investment projects in 2022 and will carry out several more in the years to come”, predicts the analyst. The group notably increased its production in the Permian Basin (an area that extends over western Texas and southeastern New Mexico) and in Guyana by 30%.
Despite its excellent annual financial results, Exxon said its fourth-quarter results were hit by $1.3 billion in European taxes on energy giants’ superprofits and asset write-downs. The Texan group seized the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) at the end of December in order to block this tax which producers and distributors of oil, gas and coal who have made considerable profits in 2022 are supposed to pay.
