Oil group ExxonMobil made a record profit of about 56 billion dollars (51.5 billion euros) last year. That is almost $ 33 billion more than in 2021 and more than $ 10 billion above the previous record from 2008, AFP news agency reported on Tuesday based on the latest quarterly figures. The American Exxon, parent company of the Exxon, Mobil and Esso gas stations, mainly benefited in 2022 from the drying up of the Russian fuel supply.
Never before has a Western oil company posted a profit of $56 billion or more. That profit could have been even higher in the last quarter of last year, had oil prices not fallen at the time. Nevertheless, the amount is higher than analysts had predicted. According to Exxon executive Darren Woods, “the investments made before and during the pandemic provided the energy and products people needed as the economy began to recover and inventories dwindled.”
Profits exploded last year because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Western sanctions against Moscow as a result of the invasion blocked some of Russia’s fuel supply. The recovery of the world economy has also contributed to keeping oil prices stable. In the United States, the average price of a gallon (3.8 liters) of unleaded fuel reached an all-time high of more than $5.
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Climate rules undermined
Exxon has recently come under scrutiny after the company opposed an extra profit tax that the European Commission wants to levy, precisely because of its high earnings. The oil company disputes the legality of the double taxation and is taking the case to court.
The Texas company was also under fire at the beginning of this year when research showed that Exxon had been undermining climate science since the late 1970s, although the board denies this. The company announced in December that it will invest $17 billion over the next five years in “lower carbon initiatives.”