Exxon posts second straight quarterly loss on demand, price plunge
Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported a $1.1 billion second-quarter loss on sharply lower energy demand and prices from the Covid-19 pandemic, and confirmed plans to make deeper spending cuts.
It was Exxon’s first back-to-back quarterly loss in at least 36 years, but was small in comparison to rivals who took giant charges last quarter. The top US oil producer took no asset write-downs during the quarter, and got a 44-cent-a-share boost to earnings by increasing the value of inventories.
Chevron Corp, Total, Royal Dutch Shell, and Eni each wrote down their oil and gas properties last quarter by several billion dollars apiece, while BP signaled an up to $17.5 billion hit.
