ExxonMobil reports rise in Q4 chems earnings to $716m

01 February 2010 15:05  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--ExxonMobil's fourth-quarter 2009 chemicals earnings were $561m (€404m) higher than the year-earlier period at $716m, the energy giant said on Monday.

Earnings were lifted $190m by stronger margins and $190m by higher volumes, it said.

The most recent fourth quarter also benefitted by $180m from lower hurricane-related costs and other items.

Sales volumes (prime product sales) at 6.68m tonnes were 1.05m tonnes higher than in the 2008 fourth quarter, which was hit by the aftereffects of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Full-year 2009 chemicals earnings were 21.9% lower at $2.30bn, compared with 2008 earnings of $2.96bn. Lower volumes reduced full-year chemicals earnings by $190m, ExxonMobil said, while lower margins hit earnings by $340m. Chemicals volume sales for the year were down 157,000 tonnes at 24.8m tonnes.

ExxonMobil’s fourth-quarter earnings were 23% lower year on year at $6.05m, while earnings for the year, including the hurricane-related and other charges/gains taken in 2008, were down 57% at $19.3m.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, upstream earnings increased on higher crude realisations and increased production on a crude-oil-equivalent basis. Downstream losses were worse in the quarter than in the prior year period as margins weakened.

ExxonMobil’s capital spending rose in the quarter and for the year in chemicals. The fourth-quarter spending increase was 10.6% to $813m. The full-year increase was 11.7% to $3.15bn.

ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum agreed at the turn of the year on their plans for a 1.6m tonne/year cracker and downstream polyethylene and ethylene glycol facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City. The complex is due on stream in 2015.

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By: Nigel Davis
+44 20 8652 3214

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