By Sheila Dang and Sharma
Houston-a few hope did not see large oil improvement executives in the season in refinery profit after Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell all reported for fourth-quarter earnings that were hit hard by a decline in the margins for production Fuel.
An increase in the refining capacity of a world -wide in 2024, along with sputtering demand growth has hurt refined edges.
Chevron's shares rejected 4% after reporting a loss in his refined business for the first time since 2020, causing US number 2 oil producer to estimate Miss Wall Street's profit.
“This trend we saw from edges softening through 2024 is something you can expect to continue to see, to extend to 2025,” Chevron CEO Mike Wired said in an interview.
“It was a fourth weak quarter, there is no doubt about it,” he said on the call of a conference after earnings in response to a question from an analyst about the refined decline.
“I'm not going to call it a perfect storm, but it was a quarter where everything went one way and it was negative.”
Wirth said Chevron would focus on what he can manage to bounce back, including lighter maintenance scheduled for refineries over the next year.
Exxon Mobil shares fell 2.5% after reporting 75% plumbing in modified earnings from refining compared to the third quarter. The S&P 500 energy sector index was wider down 2.8% on Friday.
The refined business remains under pressure from an additional fuel supply coming into the market after new refineries opened in different countries worldwide, Exxon's chief financial officer Kathryn Mikells said in an interview.
“That's really what we watch as we look forward to 2025,” he said.
The US No. 1 oil producer is still beating profit estimates with a higher production of the Permean basin, the US top oil field, and Guyana, the latest oil hot spot.
Shell said in the UK on Thursday that although he had no plans to leave the refined business, he did not intend to expand either.
The fourth quarter earnings of the halved company from the previous year to $ 3.66 billion, partly due to weaker refined edges.
Shell sold her refined hub and chemicals in Singapore last year and plans to close another plant in Wesseling, Germany.
Hit for independent purists
Although higher oil and gas production helped cushion oil majors from the effect of lower refined profit, the purists took a pure shot as the demand for fuel failed in the US and China, the two largest oil users.
Phillips' fourth quarter profit plunged 66 to $ 8 million from $ 1.26 billion in the quarter year ago. Valero refined profits fell by 73% in the fourth quarter.