Released August 11, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Two U.S.-based integrated supermajor oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corporation (Spring, Texas) and Chevron Corporation (Houston, Texas), reported sharply lower second-quarter earnings resulting from lower oil prices, growing pessimism among consumers and rising economic uncertainties, including the ever-changing global trade and tariff picture. Quarterly profit at London-based supermajor BP also fell, though not as sharply as its U.S. peers. But Shell plc (London, England) bucked the trend, reporting a slight earnings gain compared to year-earlier results.
As a group, quarterly profits were down approximately 22%, to $15.6 billion from $19.9 billion in the April-June 2024 period.
These companies make most of their revenue and profit from upstream activities (exploration and production), but higher crude output--coupled with lower costs--could not outrun soft global demand and the decline in crude oil prices during the quarter. Cash spot prices for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent fell about 20% for the just-completed quarter compared to the April-June 2024 period. WTI crude oil futures fell about 8% during the quarter.
Click on the images at right to see second-quarter average cash prices for oil in Cushing, Oklahoma, and Brent in Europe.
Prior to announcing results for the quarter, several companies warned investors that profits likely would be weak. Nonetheless, investors drove down all four company stocks during the quarter: Shell's U.S. shares fell about 4% while ExxonMobil's fell approximately 9%. Chevron's stock declined 14% and BP's dropped 16% during the April-June period while the S&P 500 Index rose about 10%. Investors were concerned about declining crude oil prices, slowing demand growth and rising uncertainties.
ExxonMobil
Second-quarter net earnings sank about 23%, or $2.1 billion, to $7.1 billion from $9.2 billion in the comparable year-earlier quarter, ExxonMobil said in reporting earnings August 1. Revenue for the quarter fell about $12 billion, to approximately $81 billion from $93 billion in the year-earlier period.
Click on the image at right to see four years of second-quarter net profits for the four integrated supermajors.
ExxonMobil said its second-quarter production of oil and gas, 4.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d), was the highest in 25 years, since Exxon and Mobil merger. Production in the Permian Basin set a new record of 1.6 million BOE/d.
Refined product sales rose to 5.6 million barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) for the just completed quarter, up from 5.3 million BBL/d for the first quarter. Refinery throughput was just shy of 4 million BBL/d for the quarter, an increase from 3.8 million BBL/d for the January-March 2025 period. Quarterly profits soared for refinery segment, to $1.4 billion from $827 million in the preceding quarter.
On a volumetric basis, sales of chemicals and specialty products also rose on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Earnings rose for both segments compared to first-quarter results.
A lot of that good operating news was wiped out by a steep drop in profits in the upstream segment: $5.4 billion from $6.8 billion in the first three months of 2025.
ExxonMobil increased its structural cost reductions $1.4 billion for the first half of 2025 compared to the same year-earlier period. The company defined structural cost reductions as "decreases in cash operating expenditures excluding energy and production taxes as a result of operational efficiencies, workforce reductions, divestment-related reductions, and other cost-saving measures, that are expected to be sustainable compared to 2019 levels." Relative to 2019, the company estimated structural cost reductions have reached a cumulative $13.5 billion.
ExxonMobil's results for the quarter also were depressed by a 90% reduction in the value of asset sales: $176 million in the just completed period compared to $1.8 billion in the first three months of 2025.
Chevron
Quarterly profits plummeted 44% for Chevron, the second-largest U.S.-based supermajor: net earnings on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis fell to $2.5 billion from $4.4 billion in last year's second quarter. That was a decline of 44%. Revenue for the April-June period fell 12%, to $44.8 billion from $51.2 billion in last year's second quarter. The company released earnings August 1.
On a segment basis, quarterly earnings fell about 39% at the upstream division, to $2.7 billion from $4.5 billion, while downstream (refining and marketing) profits rose approximately 23%, to $737 million from $597 million in the year-earlier quarter. The just-completed quarter included nearly $1 billion in losses from other businesses.
Chevron Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Wirth said second quarter results reflect "continued strong execution, record production and exceptional cash generation." Permian Basin production increased to 1 million BOE/d, and U.S. and worldwide production set new company records. Overall, production rose to slightly under 3.4 million BOE/d, up from 3.3 million BOE/d in the comparable year-earlier period.
Production numbers should increase further going forward following Chevron's acquisition of HCorporation (New York, New York) at the start of the third quarter following a lengthy arbitration fight with rival ExxonMobil. For more on that, see July 21, 2026, article - Chevron Acquires Hess, Eyes Prosperous Guyana, Bakken Assets. The Hess acquisition brought what Chevron said were "high quality" assets in Guyana, the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico.
The company noted that it entered U.S. lithium sector in the second quarter by acquiring about125,000 net acres of land in the Smackover Formation in Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas for direct lithium extraction. For more on that, see June 19, 2025, article - With Two Acquisitions, Chevron Joins the March to Lithium.
The company is implementing a plan to cut operating costs by up to $3 billion, including reducing up to 9,000 staff positions. That goal, announced at yearend 2024, seeks to achieve those cuts by the end of 2026.
Shell
Net profits at this London-based supermajor were up slightly from year-earlier results: $3.6 billion for the just-completed period compared to $3.5 billion for the April-June 2024 period. Quarterly revenue fell 12%, to $65.4 billion from $74.5 billion. The company reported results July 31.
In reporting earnings, Shell also said it would repurchase $3.5 billion of its stocks during the third quarter, the 15th consecutive quarter where share buybacks exceeded $3 billion. The current buyback, CEO Wael Sawan said, was possible due to the company's "continued focus on performance, discipline and simplification (which) helped deliver $3.9 billion of structural cost reductions since 2022." Most of those cost savings were achieved without asset sales.
During the just-completed quarter, Sawan said, Shell "continued to deliver on our strategy by enhancing our deep-water portfolio in Nigeria and Brazil, and achieved a key milestone by shipping the first cargo" from the Kitimat, British Columbia, terminal, where Shell has a 40% working interest. For more on the start of LNG sales from that terminal, see July 2, 2025, article - LNG Canada Makes Debut Delivery.
Shortly after the second quarter was completed, Shell warned it would underperform in the quarter largely due to weakening LNG volumes. That represented a walking-back of first-quarter projections. For more on that, see July 9, 2025, article - Shell Turns Downbeat on Gas. Overall, Shell's second-quarter LNG gas sales volumes rose about 8%, to about 17.8 million tons, compared to 16.5 million tons in the January-March 2025 period.
Compared to first-quarter results, Shell said its overall second-quarter performance reflected lower trading and optimization margins and lower realized liquids and gas prices, partly offset by higher marketing margins and lower operating expenses.
During the second quarter, Shell completed the sale of its energy and chemicals park in Singapore. Also during the quarter, the company agreed to sell its 16.25% interest in Colonial Enterprises, Inc. ("Colonial"), a chemical company, for about $1.45 billion. The Colonial deal closed July 31, the same day quarterly results were announced.
Shell executives spent a lot of time and effort during the second quarter denying that they were seeking to buy smaller rival BP. For more on that, see June 27, 2025, article - Shell Denies Speculation on BP Takeover. As part pf its wind-down of renewable energy, and in recognition of the Trump administration's hostility to renewable energy, Shell and its partner EDF Renewables (Nanterre, France) in the just-completed quarter sought to cancel the Atlantic Shores 1.5 gigawatt offshore wind farm off the coast of New Jersey. It took a $1 billion write-down on the project during the first quarter.
BP
Second-quarter profits slipped at BP, to about $2.4 billion from $2.8 billion in the comparable year-earlier quarter, the company said August 5 when announcing results. The company increased its dividend and announced a $750 million stock buyback for the current quarter when it released earnings.
Speaking to investors, CEO Muray Auchincloss accentuated the positive: During the first half of 2025, it brought five new oil and gas major projects onstream, sanctioned four more and made 10 exploration discoveries, including the significant discovery in the Bumerangue block in Brazil, announced a day earlier. For more on that, see August 5, 2025, article - BP Makes its Biggest Oil Discovery in 25 Years Offshore Brazil.
BP's "customers and products" group reported a $900 million increase in underlying profits compared to first-quarter 2025 results. Chief Financial Officer Kate Thomson told investors results from its customer business rose due to seasonally higher volumes and stronger margins. This was the best second-quarter for that business in over a decade. Turning to its products business, she said profits were plumped by stronger realized refining margins and a strong oil trading contribution, partially offset by a significantly higher level of turnaround activity.
Year-to-date, BP has realized about $3 billion in completed or expected asset sales. Six months into a three-year cost-reduction program, the London-based supermajor said structural costs have been lowered by about $1.7 billion when compared with its 2023 baseline.
BP long has been under pressure from investors to improve performance and increase its stock price, leading to speculation during the quarter that BP's bigger London rival, Shell, would take it over, which Shell denied. During the quarter, it announced a new chairman, Albert Manifold, who turned around results at his prior business. He will become chair of the board of directors October 1.
For the full year, BP said it expected reported upstream production to be lower than 2024. Oil production is expected to be flat and production of gas and low-carbon energy is expected to decline. Shortly after the second quarter ended, BP on July 17 said it was selling its U.S. onshore wind power business to LS Power Group (New York, New York). For more on that, see July 21, 2025, article - BP Unloads U.S. Onshore Wind Energy Business. Terms were not announced. The strategic review of BP's Castrol lubricants business continued during the quarter. Auchincloss said the company would continuing shrinking its hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) portfolio.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
As a group, quarterly profits were down approximately 22%, to $15.6 billion from $19.9 billion in the April-June 2024 period.
These companies make most of their revenue and profit from upstream activities (exploration and production), but higher crude output--coupled with lower costs--could not outrun soft global demand and the decline in crude oil prices during the quarter. Cash spot prices for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent fell about 20% for the just-completed quarter compared to the April-June 2024 period. WTI crude oil futures fell about 8% during the quarter.
Click on the images at right to see second-quarter average cash prices for oil in Cushing, Oklahoma, and Brent in Europe.Prior to announcing results for the quarter, several companies warned investors that profits likely would be weak. Nonetheless, investors drove down all four company stocks during the quarter: Shell's U.S. shares fell about 4% while ExxonMobil's fell approximately 9%. Chevron's stock declined 14% and BP's dropped 16% during the April-June period while the S&P 500 Index rose about 10%. Investors were concerned about declining crude oil prices, slowing demand growth and rising uncertainties.
ExxonMobil
Second-quarter net earnings sank about 23%, or $2.1 billion, to $7.1 billion from $9.2 billion in the comparable year-earlier quarter, ExxonMobil said in reporting earnings August 1. Revenue for the quarter fell about $12 billion, to approximately $81 billion from $93 billion in the year-earlier period.
Click on the image at right to see four years of second-quarter net profits for the four integrated supermajors.ExxonMobil said its second-quarter production of oil and gas, 4.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d), was the highest in 25 years, since Exxon and Mobil merger. Production in the Permian Basin set a new record of 1.6 million BOE/d.
Refined product sales rose to 5.6 million barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) for the just completed quarter, up from 5.3 million BBL/d for the first quarter. Refinery throughput was just shy of 4 million BBL/d for the quarter, an increase from 3.8 million BBL/d for the January-March 2025 period. Quarterly profits soared for refinery segment, to $1.4 billion from $827 million in the preceding quarter.
On a volumetric basis, sales of chemicals and specialty products also rose on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Earnings rose for both segments compared to first-quarter results.
A lot of that good operating news was wiped out by a steep drop in profits in the upstream segment: $5.4 billion from $6.8 billion in the first three months of 2025.
ExxonMobil increased its structural cost reductions $1.4 billion for the first half of 2025 compared to the same year-earlier period. The company defined structural cost reductions as "decreases in cash operating expenditures excluding energy and production taxes as a result of operational efficiencies, workforce reductions, divestment-related reductions, and other cost-saving measures, that are expected to be sustainable compared to 2019 levels." Relative to 2019, the company estimated structural cost reductions have reached a cumulative $13.5 billion.
ExxonMobil's results for the quarter also were depressed by a 90% reduction in the value of asset sales: $176 million in the just completed period compared to $1.8 billion in the first three months of 2025.
Chevron
Quarterly profits plummeted 44% for Chevron, the second-largest U.S.-based supermajor: net earnings on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis fell to $2.5 billion from $4.4 billion in last year's second quarter. That was a decline of 44%. Revenue for the April-June period fell 12%, to $44.8 billion from $51.2 billion in last year's second quarter. The company released earnings August 1.
On a segment basis, quarterly earnings fell about 39% at the upstream division, to $2.7 billion from $4.5 billion, while downstream (refining and marketing) profits rose approximately 23%, to $737 million from $597 million in the year-earlier quarter. The just-completed quarter included nearly $1 billion in losses from other businesses.
Chevron Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Wirth said second quarter results reflect "continued strong execution, record production and exceptional cash generation." Permian Basin production increased to 1 million BOE/d, and U.S. and worldwide production set new company records. Overall, production rose to slightly under 3.4 million BOE/d, up from 3.3 million BOE/d in the comparable year-earlier period.
Production numbers should increase further going forward following Chevron's acquisition of HCorporation (New York, New York) at the start of the third quarter following a lengthy arbitration fight with rival ExxonMobil. For more on that, see July 21, 2026, article - Chevron Acquires Hess, Eyes Prosperous Guyana, Bakken Assets. The Hess acquisition brought what Chevron said were "high quality" assets in Guyana, the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico.
The company noted that it entered U.S. lithium sector in the second quarter by acquiring about125,000 net acres of land in the Smackover Formation in Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas for direct lithium extraction. For more on that, see June 19, 2025, article - With Two Acquisitions, Chevron Joins the March to Lithium.
The company is implementing a plan to cut operating costs by up to $3 billion, including reducing up to 9,000 staff positions. That goal, announced at yearend 2024, seeks to achieve those cuts by the end of 2026.
Shell
Net profits at this London-based supermajor were up slightly from year-earlier results: $3.6 billion for the just-completed period compared to $3.5 billion for the April-June 2024 period. Quarterly revenue fell 12%, to $65.4 billion from $74.5 billion. The company reported results July 31.
In reporting earnings, Shell also said it would repurchase $3.5 billion of its stocks during the third quarter, the 15th consecutive quarter where share buybacks exceeded $3 billion. The current buyback, CEO Wael Sawan said, was possible due to the company's "continued focus on performance, discipline and simplification (which) helped deliver $3.9 billion of structural cost reductions since 2022." Most of those cost savings were achieved without asset sales.
During the just-completed quarter, Sawan said, Shell "continued to deliver on our strategy by enhancing our deep-water portfolio in Nigeria and Brazil, and achieved a key milestone by shipping the first cargo" from the Kitimat, British Columbia, terminal, where Shell has a 40% working interest. For more on the start of LNG sales from that terminal, see July 2, 2025, article - LNG Canada Makes Debut Delivery.
Shortly after the second quarter was completed, Shell warned it would underperform in the quarter largely due to weakening LNG volumes. That represented a walking-back of first-quarter projections. For more on that, see July 9, 2025, article - Shell Turns Downbeat on Gas. Overall, Shell's second-quarter LNG gas sales volumes rose about 8%, to about 17.8 million tons, compared to 16.5 million tons in the January-March 2025 period.
Compared to first-quarter results, Shell said its overall second-quarter performance reflected lower trading and optimization margins and lower realized liquids and gas prices, partly offset by higher marketing margins and lower operating expenses.
During the second quarter, Shell completed the sale of its energy and chemicals park in Singapore. Also during the quarter, the company agreed to sell its 16.25% interest in Colonial Enterprises, Inc. ("Colonial"), a chemical company, for about $1.45 billion. The Colonial deal closed July 31, the same day quarterly results were announced.
Shell executives spent a lot of time and effort during the second quarter denying that they were seeking to buy smaller rival BP. For more on that, see June 27, 2025, article - Shell Denies Speculation on BP Takeover. As part pf its wind-down of renewable energy, and in recognition of the Trump administration's hostility to renewable energy, Shell and its partner EDF Renewables (Nanterre, France) in the just-completed quarter sought to cancel the Atlantic Shores 1.5 gigawatt offshore wind farm off the coast of New Jersey. It took a $1 billion write-down on the project during the first quarter.
BP
Second-quarter profits slipped at BP, to about $2.4 billion from $2.8 billion in the comparable year-earlier quarter, the company said August 5 when announcing results. The company increased its dividend and announced a $750 million stock buyback for the current quarter when it released earnings.
Speaking to investors, CEO Muray Auchincloss accentuated the positive: During the first half of 2025, it brought five new oil and gas major projects onstream, sanctioned four more and made 10 exploration discoveries, including the significant discovery in the Bumerangue block in Brazil, announced a day earlier. For more on that, see August 5, 2025, article - BP Makes its Biggest Oil Discovery in 25 Years Offshore Brazil.
BP's "customers and products" group reported a $900 million increase in underlying profits compared to first-quarter 2025 results. Chief Financial Officer Kate Thomson told investors results from its customer business rose due to seasonally higher volumes and stronger margins. This was the best second-quarter for that business in over a decade. Turning to its products business, she said profits were plumped by stronger realized refining margins and a strong oil trading contribution, partially offset by a significantly higher level of turnaround activity.
Year-to-date, BP has realized about $3 billion in completed or expected asset sales. Six months into a three-year cost-reduction program, the London-based supermajor said structural costs have been lowered by about $1.7 billion when compared with its 2023 baseline.
BP long has been under pressure from investors to improve performance and increase its stock price, leading to speculation during the quarter that BP's bigger London rival, Shell, would take it over, which Shell denied. During the quarter, it announced a new chairman, Albert Manifold, who turned around results at his prior business. He will become chair of the board of directors October 1.
For the full year, BP said it expected reported upstream production to be lower than 2024. Oil production is expected to be flat and production of gas and low-carbon energy is expected to decline. Shortly after the second quarter ended, BP on July 17 said it was selling its U.S. onshore wind power business to LS Power Group (New York, New York). For more on that, see July 21, 2025, article - BP Unloads U.S. Onshore Wind Energy Business. Terms were not announced. The strategic review of BP's Castrol lubricants business continued during the quarter. Auchincloss said the company would continuing shrinking its hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) portfolio.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
