Exxon Mobil Corporation today announced third-quarter 2024 earnings of $8.6 billion, or $1.92 per share assuming dilution.
Cash flow from operating activities was $17.6 billion and free cash flow was $11.3 billion. Capital and exploration expenditures were $7.2 billion in the third quarter, bringing year-to-date 2024 expenditures to $20 billion, in line with the company's full-year guidance of $28 billion.
'We delivered one of our strongest third quarters in a decade,' said Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer.
'Our industry-leading results1 continue to demonstrate how our enterprise-wide transformation is improving the structural earnings power of the company. In the Upstream, we've doubled the profitability of the barrels we produce on a constant price basis5. In Product Solutions, we've high-graded our refining footprint and increased high-value product sales. And across the entire company, we've achieved $11.3 billion of structural cost savings since 2019. Our strategy is delivering leading returns of 20% so far this year for our shareholders, and we are continuing that growth with a 4% increase in our quarterly dividend payment announced today. We've now increased our annual dividend for 42 years in a row, a claim that less than 4% of the S&P 500 companies can make. Furthermore, we lead industry in total shareholder returns for the past 3, 5 and 10 years.'
Financial Highlights
Year-to-date earnings were $26.1 billion versus $28.4 billion in the same period last year. Earnings decreased as industry refining margins and natural gas prices declined from last year's historically high levels, partially offset by favorable timing effects mainly from derivatives mark-to-market impacts. Strong advantaged volume growth from Guyana and Permian assets including Pioneer, and increased high-value product sales more than offset lower base volumes from divestments of non-strategic assets and scheduled maintenance. Structural cost savings partly offset higher expenses from depreciation, scheduled maintenance, development of new businesses and 2025 project start-ups.
Achieved $11.3 billion of cumulative Structural Cost Savings versus 2019, including an additional $1.6 billion of savings during the year and $0.6 billion during the quarter. The company is on track to deliver cumulative savings totaling $15 billion through the end of 2027 versus 2019.
Generated strong cash flow from operations of $42.8 billion and free cash flow of $26.4 billion in the first nine months of the year. Industry leading year-to-date shareholder distributions2 of $26.1 billion included $12.3 billion of dividends and $13.8 billion of share repurchases. The company plans to repurchase over $19 billion of shares in 2024. ExxonMobil leads industry with total shareholder return of 20% year-to-date3, and also for the past three, five and ten-year periods.
The Corporation declared a fourth-quarter dividend of $0.99 per share, an increase of 4%, payable on December 10, 2024, to shareholders of record of Common Stock at the close of business on November 14, 2024. The company has increased its annual dividend for 42 consecutive years, a claim that less than 4% of the S&P 500 companies can make.
The company's debt-to-capital ratio was 13% and the net-debt-to-capital ratio was 5%4, reflecting year-to-date debt repayment of $4.7 billion and a period-end cash balance of $27.0 billion.
ADVANCING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS
Hydrogen
ADNOC acquired a 35% equity stake in the company's hydrogen production facility in Baytown, Texas. The proposed project is expected to produce virtually carbon-free hydrogen, with approximately 98% of carbon dioxide (CO2) captured and stored.
ExxonMobil also signed a Project Framework Agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation for the offtake of low-carbon ammonia and equity participation in the Baytown project. It joined JERA, Japan's largest power generator, which signed a similar agreement in March.
Contingent on the U.S. federal government implementing regulations that are consistent with the Inflation Reduction Act's legislative intent, the Baytown facility is expected to be the world's largest of its kind upon startup, capable of producing up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day and more than 1 million tons of low-carbon ammonia per year. A final investment decision is expected in 2025 with anticipated startup in 2029.
Carbon Capture and Storage
ExxonMobil signed its fifth CCS agreement to transport and store up to 1.2 million metric tons of CO2 per year from the New Generation Gas Gathering (NG3) project being built in Louisiana. NG3 will gather and treat natural gas produced in east Texas and Louisiana for delivery to U.S. Gulf Coast markets, including for LNG export. This is ExxonMobil's first agreement with a natural gas processing customer and brings the total contracted CO2 to store for customers up to 6.7 million metric tons per year. No other company has more announced CO2 offtake under contract than ExxonMobil1.
The company secured the largest offshore CO2 storage site in the United States through an agreement with the Texas General Land Office. The 271,000-acre site complements the onshore CO2 storage portfolio the company is developing and further solidifies ExxonMobil as the company of choice for carbon capture, transport and storage across the U.S. Gulf Coast. Proceeds from the agreement directly benefit the Texas Permanent School Fund, which enhances education for Texas children.
Products Supporting a Lower-Emissions Future
ExxonMobil acquired the exclusive overseas licensing rights for Neuvokas Corporation's proprietary composite rebar manufacturing process. ExxonMobil's Proxxima polyolefin thermoset resin system paired with this patented process delivers a cost-effective, corrosion free, lightweight, and long-lasting rebar as an alternative to steel. This collaboration marks a significant step towards expanding the global market of composite rebar. Proxxima resin is made by transforming lower-value gasoline molecules into a high-value, lower-emission product that can be used in high-performance coatings, light-weight construction materials, and advanced composites for cars and trucks - including battery boxes for electric vehicles. The company estimates a total potential addressable market of $30 billion dollars by 2030 for Proxxima2.
As part of its Carbon Materials Venture, ExxonMobil has developed proprietary technology that allows the company to produce feedstock for next-generation graphite at scale for the electric vehicle (EV) battery market. Carbon material products are made by transforming the molecular structure of low-value heavy fuel oil from the company's refining process into high-value products, resulting in a thousands-of-dollars-per-ton uplift. This next-generation graphite potentially provides a 30% improvement in EV battery range as well as faster charges. This market could grow at 25% per year and reach $30 billion dollars by 20303.
Cautionary Statement
Statements related to future events; projections; descriptions of strategic, operating, and financial plans and objectives; statements of future ambitions, future earnings power, potential addressable markets, or plans and other statements of future events or conditions in this release, are forward-looking statements. Similarly, discussion of future carbon capture, transportation and storage, as well as biofuels, hydrogen, ammonia, lithium, direct air capture, and other low carbon business plans to reduce emissions of ExxonMobil, its affiliates, and third parties, are dependent on future market factors, such as continued technological progress, policy support and timely rule-making and permitting, and represent forward-looking statements. Actual future results, including financial and operating performance; potential earnings, cash flow, or rate of return; total capital expenditures and mix, including allocations of capital to low carbon investments; realization and maintenance of structural cost reductions and efficiency gains, including the ability to offset inflationary pressure; plans to reduce future emissions and emissions intensity; ambitions to reach Scope 1 and Scope 2 net zero from operated assets by 2050, to reach Scope 1 and 2 net zero in heritage Upstream Permian Basin unconventional operated assets by 2030 and in Pioneer Permian assets by 2035, to eliminate routine flaring in-line with World Bank Zero Routine Flaring, to reach near-zero methane emissions from its operated assets and other methane initiatives, to meet ExxonMobil's emission reduction goals and plans, divestment and start-up plans, and associated project plans as well as technology advances, including the timing and outcome of projects to capture and store CO2, produce hydrogen and ammonia, produce biofuels, produce lithium, create new advanced carbon materials, and use plastic waste as feedstock for advanced recycling; cash flow, dividends and shareholder returns, including the timing and amounts of share repurchases; future debt levels and credit ratings; business and project plans, timing, costs, capacities and returns; resource recoveries and production rates and planned Pioneer and Denbury integrated benefits, could differ materially due to a number of factors. These include global or regional changes in the supply and demand for oil, natural gas, petrochemicals, and feedstocks and other market factors, economic conditions and seasonal fluctuations that impact prices and differentials for our products; changes in law, taxes, or regulation including environmental and tax regulations, trade sanctions, and timely granting of governmental permits and certifications; the development or changes in government policies supporting lower carbon and new market investment opportunities such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act or policies limiting the attractiveness of future investment such as the additional European taxes on the energy sector and unequal support for different methods of emissions reduction; variable impacts of trading activities on our margins and results each quarter; actions of competitors and commercial counterparties; the outcome of commercial negotiations, including final agreed terms and conditions; the ability to access debt markets; the ultimate impacts of public health crises, including the effects of government responses on people and economies; reservoir performance, including variability and timing factors applicable to unconventional resources and the success of new unconventional technologies; the level and outcome of exploration projects and decisions to invest in future reserves; timely completion of development and other construction projects; final management approval of future projects and any changes in the scope, terms, or costs of such projects as approved; government regulation of our growth opportunities; war, civil unrest, attacks against the company or industry and other political or security disturbances; expropriations, seizure, or capacity, insurance or shipping limitations by foreign governments or laws; changes in market strategy by national oil companies; opportunities for potential acquisitions, investments or divestments and satisfaction of applicable conditions to closing, including timely regulatory approvals; the capture of efficiencies within and between business lines and the ability to maintain near-term cost reductions as ongoing efficiencies; unforeseen technical or operating difficulties and unplanned maintenance; the development and competitiveness of alternative energy and emission reduction technologies; the results of research programs and the ability to bring new technologies to commercial scale on a cost-competitive basis and other factors discussed under Item 1A. Risk Factors of ExxonMobil's 2023 Form 10-K.
Actions needed to advance ExxonMobil's 2030 greenhouse gas emission-reductions plans are incorporated into its medium-term business plans, which are updated annually. The reference case for planning beyond 2030 is based on the Company's Global Outlook research and publication. The Outlook is reflective of the existing global policy environment and an assumption of increasing policy stringency and technology improvement to 2050. Current trends for policy stringency and deployment of lower-emission solutions are not yet on a pathway to achieve net-zero by 2050. As such, the Global Outlook does not project the degree of required future policy and technology advancement and deployment for the world, or ExxonMobil, to meet net zero by 2050. As future policies and technology advancements emerge, they will be incorporated into the Outlook, and the Company's business plans will be updated accordingly. References to projects or opportunities may not reflect investment decisions made by the corporation or its affiliates. Individual projects or opportunities may advance based on a number of factors, including availability of supportive policy, permitting, technological advancement for cost-effective abatement, insights from the company planning process, and alignment with our partners and other stakeholders. Capital investment guidance in lower-emission investments is based on our corporate plan; however, actual investment levels will be subject to the availability of the opportunity set, public policy support, and focused on returns.
Forward-looking and other statements regarding environmental and other sustainability efforts and aspirations are not an indication that these statements are material to investors or requiring disclosure in our filing with the SEC. In addition, historical, current, and forward-looking environmental and other sustainability-related statements may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future, including future rule-making. The release is provided under consistent SEC disclosure requirements and should not be misinterpreted as applying to any other disclosure standards.
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EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION 
