ExxonMobil Q1 chems profits fall 16.8% to $1.03bn

01 May 2008 14:20  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--ExxonMobil’s first-quarter chemicals earnings fell 16.8% year-on-year to $1.03bn, the US oil giant said on Thursday.

Lower margins depressed earnings by about $350m, ExxonMobil said, which was offset by favourable currency exchange and tax effects.

Product sales were down 227,000 tonnes at 6.58m tonnes, with sales down 176,000 tonnes in the US.

ExxonMobil’s US chemicals earnings were hardest hit during the period, falling 17.9% year on year to $284m. Chemicals earnings for the rest of the world were down 16.4% at $744m, it said.

Overall the oil group’s first-quarter net income was up 17%, hitting a record $10.89bn driven by record high crude oil prices.

Refining margins were down, however, alongside chemicals. ExxonMobil said production volumes in the quarter had been lower but operating costs higher.

Group-wide capital spending was up significantly, 30% higher than in the equivalent period of last year, at $5.5bn, as investments in oil, gas and downstream projects were ramped up.

The quarterly spend on chemicals more than doubled to $566m, from $219m, with non-US spending up from $467m, from $135m.

The company’s second steam cracker being built in Singapore is expected to cost $4bn and is due for completion in 2011.

ExxonMobil said in March that it planned to increase its steam-cracking capacity in Asia and the Middle East by 60% over the next few years.

Its $5bn Fujian, China, cracker project is due for a 2009 start-up.

ExxonMobil is the world's largest publicly traded oil company.

By: Nigel Davis
+44 20 8652 3214

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