ExxonMobil's Total Oil and Gas Reserves Drop by a Third

Jennifer Hiller and Shariq Khan
Thursday, February 25, 2021

ExxonMobil's global oil and gas reserves tumbled by a third last year as the COVID-19 pandemic slammed global oil prices and demand, the company said on Wednesday.

The largest U.S. oil producer is reeling from the sharp decline in oil demand and a series of bad bets on projects when prices were much higher. It slashed project spending by a third last year, cut jobs, and added to debt to cover its dividend.

Exxon's reserves are at their lowest since the merger between Exxon and Mobil in 1999 and were "a result of very low prices during 2020 and the effects of reductions in capital expenditures," the company said in a filing.

Total reserves for all products fell to 15.2 billion barrels of oil and gas at the end of 2020 from 22.4 billion the year before, mostly driven by oil sands in Canada and U.S. shale gas properties, according to the filing.

Exxon cut the value of its shale gas properties by over $20 billion last year, most of them acquired in a 2010 merger with XTO Energy that had pushed its reserves up by about 2 billion barrels.

The plunge in its value of oil and gas properties was worse than during the 2014 through 2016 downturn, when Exxon had a 4.8 billion cut in its reserves.

The reserves Exxon removed could be added back in the future based on a recovery in oil prices, cost reduction or operating efficiencies, a company representative said.

The number of Exxon workers at the end of the year was 72,000, down from 74,900 at the end of 2019.

Exxon has said it could cut 14,000 employees and contractors, or 15% of its global workforce, by the end of 2021.

Earlier this month, it reported a net annual loss of $22.4 billion for 2020, compared with a full-year profit of $14.34 billion in 2019. Exxon had previously churned out profits since it merged with Mobil and through the 1980s oil bust.

Shares rose 3% on Wednesday to $56.70 as energy and other stocks gained.

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller and Shariq Khan; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Peter Cooney)

Categories: Industry News Production North America

Related Stories

CNOOC Starts Production at Two New Oil and Gas Projects

SLB Names Raman CSO, CMO

ONGC and BP Sign Deal to Boost Production at India's Largest Offshore Oil Field

CNOOC Starts Production at Offshore Oil Filed Equipped with CCUS Tech

Kazakhstan Looks to Improve Oil Production Agreements Terms

CNOOC Boosts Dongfang Gas Fields Output with New Platform Coming Online

Saipem’s Castorone Vessel on Its Way to Türkiye’s Largest Gas Field

AI & Offshore Energy: The Higher the Stakes, the More Value AI Creates

Floating LNG Conversion Job Slips Out of Seatrium’s Hands

OPEC+ Passes on Oil Output Increase, Weighs the "Trump Effect"

Current News

Eneos Scoops Jack-Up Drilling Contract Offshore Vietnam

Vietnam to Open Bidding Round for Three Offshore Oil Blocks

VARD Snags $125M Shipbuilding Deal for Subsea Construction Vessel

Mitsui’s STATS Lands Malaysian Pipeline Isolation Job

INEOS Wraps Up Acquisition of CNOOC’s US Oil and Gas Assets

Fire at Petronas Gas Pipeline in Malaysia Sends 63 to Hospital

Japan’s ENEOS Xplora, PVEP Ink Deal for Vietnam Offshore Block

CNOOC Makes Major Oil and Gas Discovery in South China Sea

Valeura’s Assets in Gulf of Thailand Remain Operational After Earthquake

Op-Ed: Kazakhstan’s National O&G Firm Positioning Itself as Global Energy Player

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com