Large oil profits show division in production strategy, shareholders’ returns

Of Sheila Dang and Sadia Nasrella

Houston/London’s first quarter (Reuters) -Big Oil have shown a clear division in the position of companies to reduce the fall of the fall in oil prices to a minimum of four years in April.

Investors focused on whether companies would cut off participation purchases, as lower gross prices would leave them with less cash to finance programs. Rewards and dividends are key to the interest of investors in the oil industry.

U.S. Oil Producer Exxon Mobil and Shell, based on the United Kingdom, kept the pace of participation rewards. Their best rivals, Chevron and BP, based in the United States, said they would reduce purchases in the second quarter.

The difference speaks where each company is in its business cycle.

Exxon has benefited from the prolific production of his Guyana oil field, the largest oil encounter out of the sea in at least a decade.

A lead actor in the American oil field, the Permian basin, as well as in Guyana, increased production by 20% year-on-year. The two areas are highly profitable and the company works to reduce its operating costs, said Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon.

“In this uncertain market, our shareholders can be sure that we are built for it,” Woods said to the company’s first quarter results.

Oil prices have registered the largest monthly monthly fall since 2021 this week, as investors were expected to be expected to damage the global economy and contingent fuel demand, the commercial policies of the United States President Donald Trump.

The exxon capital debt proportion was 7%. It was the only integrated oil company that did not increase the net debt during the quarter, said Kim Fustier, head of European oil and gas research at HSBC.

Oil and gas production of the first quarter of Chevron was flat compared to the previous year, as the growth of the Kazakhstan and the Permian was offset by the loss of production for assets sales.

Earlier this year, the company announced that it would say goodbye to 20% of its staff as part of an effort to simplify the business and reduce $ 3 billion at costs.

Chevron is trying to buy Guyana’s game through the acquisition of one of the project’s minority partners, Hess. Exxon is in arbitration on this agreement and claims to have the right of first refusal to the participation of Hess in the field.

Exxon bought $ 4.8 billion of shares during the first quarter, launching it to achieve its annual target of $ 20 billion.

Chevron said it would reduce purchases to between $ 2,000 and $ 3.5 billion in the current quarter, out of $ 3.9 billion between January and March, which said it was a reflection of market conditions.