America’s largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, posted their worst losses in modern history yesterday, as the COVID-19 pandemic and a glut in crude oil destroyed the demand for energy products in the second quarter of 2020.
Exxon Mobil, in its latest earnings results, revealed a $1.1 billion loss in Q2, 2020, according to a copy of the results that were seen by Nairametrics.
What you should know: The COVID-19 pandemic and oversupply of crude oil in the global oil market significantly impacted Exxon Mobil’s and Chevron’s Q2, 2020 financial results, with lower prices, margins, and sales volumes.
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Chevron Corporation also declared a whopping loss of about $8.3 billion, triggered in part by $5.2 billion write-downs on assets that the company saw had lost relevance and value.
The poor earnings results recorded by America’s two oil juggernauts have caused their stock prices tank to record lows.
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“Look, it was a challenging quarter,” Pierre Breber, Chevron’s chief financial officer, said on a call with investors on Friday. “We had very volatile industry conditions.”
The earnings results by the two oil giants marked a dramatic reversal from earnings recorded in 2019. During Q2, 2019, Exxon Mobil earned $3.1 billion, while Chevron also made $4.3 billion.
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The two oil giants however tried to downplay the recorded losses as just a flash in the pan, since the major cause was from macros, beyond their businesses since the global restriction to contain the pandemic affected most industries around the world. Neither Exxon Mobil CEO, Darren Woods nor Chevron CEO, Michael Wirth joined the Friday earnings calls though doing so might have helped soothe the nerves of traders and global investors.