The American oil giant Exxon records a record profit of $ 55.7 billion

Thanks to rising oil prices, ExxonMobil earned more than ever last year. The largest American oil multinational announced a profit of $ 55.7 billion (51.4 billion euros) for 2022 on Tuesday.

Exxon thus increased net profit by about 140 percent over the previous year. Sales increased about 45 percent to $413.7 billion. In the last quarter, sales increased by no less than twelve percent to $95.4 billion.

While many sectors of the economy and companies had to cut back sharply in 2022 due to inflation concerns and rising policy rates, Exxon and most companies in the oil industry were doing very well.

The war in Russia is driving up prices

Prices on the oil and gas market rose sharply, partly due to the temporary sharp supply shortage as a result of the Russian offensive war against Ukraine. However, in times of high fuel and heating costs, the record profits are not well received everywhere.

US President Joe Biden has publicly criticized Exxon on several occasions and called on the US Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate evidence of illegal price inflating in the oil industry as early as 2021. He was particularly affected by share buybacks and billion dollar dividend payments. Exxon boss Darren Woods now admitted that the strong quarterly and annual results “clearly benefited from the favorable market environment”. However, one reason is that Exxon was willing to invest before and during the pandemic.

Despite the record results, investors reacted cautiously and in an initial reaction, Exxon shares fell by about four percent. The numbers beat Wall Street analysts’ forecasts. But after its largest U.S. competitor Chevron announced a $75 billion share buyback program and a higher dividend last week, some investors were apparently disappointed that Exxon did not present any new plans to return profits to shareholders for now. (aeg/sda/awp/dpa)