Exxon Mobil's Q1 Earnings: Navigating Volatility

0:00It's April 30th. I'm Cory with the story. This is Durham News Today, driven by AI. ExxonMobil drops its first quarter earnings, Friday, May 1st, before the market opens, shining a light on how the oil giant navigated a wild start. To the year. Crude price is skyrocketed, with Brent jumping from $61 a barrel at the year's kickoff to 118 by quarter's end. The. Biggest quarterly surge since 1988. That kind of tailwind usually pumps up Exxon's upstream oil and gas offs big time. Investors got a heads up from Exxon on potential boosts. Liquid prices could add 1.9 to 2.3 billion dollars versus last. Quarter and gas. Another 200 million to 600 million. But the company flagged major offsets, like trading and inventory timing hits, that might drag earnings by 3.3 to 4.1 billion. Dollars, especially in energy products. Those mismatches come from accounting rules on hedges and shipments during rapid price spikes,

1:02negative in-up markets, positive when prices drop. Add in Middle East tensions, closing key shipping lanes, and you've got volume disruptions potentially shaving another 300 million to 5. 100 million plus 600 million to 800 million more from related issues. Exxon's coming off a strong fourth quarter with 6.5 billion in earnings, or $1.53 per share, and they return 9.5 billion to shareholders by dividends and buybacks. Full year 2025 brought 28.8 billion in profits and 37.2 billion distributed setting, a high bar, a mid volatility. Management's call will be key for decoding if these hits were one-offs or linger into quarter two, especially with cash flow fueling, buys, dividends, and investments while oil stays unpredictable.