Although R&D expenses for the company didn’t change much  during the quarter, its exploration expenses decreased by ~22%, resulting in higher profitability. In terms of bottom-line, the company precisely met analyst expectations as it reported an EPS of $0.68.  Amongst all the positives, perhaps the icing on the cake was a share buyback program worth $2.5 billion.

Brent crude declined by nearly 4% to $66.65, its lowest level over the last 7 months. OPEC nations and its associate members hinted at a production cut last Sunday, which may have given oil prices a small boost on Monday.But President Trump’s tweet Monday asking OPEC members and Saudi Arabia not to cut supply may have reversed sentiment. Further uncertainty entered the markets as OPEC revised oil demand for 2019 downward, for the fourth straight month.

Oil finally broke its losing streak as U.S. crude futures rose 36 cents to $60.55 on Monday, after Saudi Arabia and its OPEC partners hinted that an output cut could be on the horizon. After a weekend discussion with all OPEC nations, Saudi Arabia on Monday announced that OPEC and its partners are contemplating an output cut of 1 million barrels per day in the next year. Further, Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, added that it would cut its shipments by half a million barrels per day in December due to seasonal lower demand. Oil prices fell by nearly 20% in the last month, amidst concerns over increased supply and the threat of a slowdown in demand, especially from countries whose purchasing power has been eroding owing to their currencies weakening sharply against US dollar.Perhaps the tide is turning.   

U.S.oil production jumped to a record 11.6 million barrels a day last week, and rising U.S. output is a factor that could prompt OPEC members and allies to react when they meet over the weekend. READ MORE...

The American multinational energy company, Chevron Corporation, is still in two minds in terms of whether to leave Venezuela amidst decreasing profit and increasing corruption in the country. Criticized for working in close quarters with the Venezuelan Maduro government, Chevron is the last major U.S.-based oil producing company still operating in Venezuela.However, the top executives of the company in U.S. are yet to confirm anything.  

West Texas Intermediate futures are already down 20% from the near four-year high. U.S.oil production is already up a stunning 2 million barrels a day from the same period last year, and 400,000 barrels from the week earlier, based on weekly U.S. government data.

On Friday, ExxonMobil reported  a +57% jump in its Q3 profit which reached $6.24 billion, on the back of surging production from Permian Basin of Texas coupled with oil price spikes. Its per-share profit came in at $1.46 - versus analysts' estimate of $1.23 a share (according to Refinitiv).What could further boost the outlook on the company is its increased cash flow from operations to $11.1 billion – a four-year high. Its overall oil and gas production, however, reduced by -2% from previous year, mainly due to declining natural gas volume.

The Texas-based energy giant, Exxon Mobil Corp, hasn't been able to garner too much excitement among the investor community ahead of its third-quarter earnings report on Friday.Shaky previous quarterly results are to blame. Analysts have nevertheless given an average price target of $89.63, representing 20% upside over current share prices.

According to the monthly report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S.’s total output for the month of August stood at record 11.346 million barrels a day compared to Russia’s 11.21 million.With these figures the U.S. now surpasses Russia to claim the title of world’s top oil producer, with the largest year-on-year output increase in U.S. history. U.S.

British oil giant, British Petroleum, on Tuesday reported that it has more than doubled it’s bottom-line in the third quarter, bolstered by stronger oil prices. With oil prices hitting a four-year high in the last quarter, the company reported a ~300% jump in its revenue from $20 billion to $80.8 billion (£63 billion), compared to the same period in the previous year. The underlying profit of the company for the three month period ending September 30 grew by more than 100%, from $1.86 billion to $3.8 billion, over the three-month period in the previous quarter.The company also declared a dividend of 10.25 cents per share for the third quarter, 2.5% higher than a year earlier. Considering the tensions surrounding the oil markets, owing to the looming U.S. sanctions on Iran (OPEC's third largest oil producer) and the heightened tensions between Washington and Saudi Arabia (the world's biggest oil exporter), BP's estimated outperformance is considered to be a big news

The New York State Attorney General says they will be suing Exxon Mobil alleging the company has misled investors and has understated risks from climate change regulations. NY Attorney General Barbara Underwood, in an announcement, also alleges that former CEO and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "keen of the misrepresentations for years." The statement also says, "Exxon built a facade to deceive investors into believing that the company was managing the risks of climate change regulation to its business when, in fact, it was intentionally and systematically underestimating or ignoring them, contrary to its public representations.

Russia’s Rosneft and U.S.'s Exxon Mobil plan to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in a consortium with Indian and Japanese partners. Rosneft and Exxon unveiled plans in 2013 to build a LNG production site in Russia’s Far East, but the plan failed to materialize owing to a number of reasons, including sanctions against Moscow for its role in the Ukraine conflict. However, recent talks between these two companies has given indication that they are finally ready to go ahead with this estimated $15 billion project.Although nothing to date has been officially confirmed by any of the companies, it is expected that the financing of the LNG plant would be shared between the participants and the project could start in Q1 2019.

Oil giant Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) has been moving higher since hitting a multi-year low in April.This led to a bullish crossover from the stochastic readings. Exxon will announce earnings on November 2, so there is only about 10 days for this bounce to play out before the earnings report will affect the stock. The company’s sales and earnings have been declining over the last three years, but the company did report earnings growth of 18% in its last quarterly report and sales were up 27% from the previous year in that report. The sentiment toward Exxon is interesting, especially the analysts’ ratings.

Enforcing a 1973-style oil embargo is not in the cards for Saudi Arabia, confirmed by the Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih in an interview to Russia's TASS news agency.Amidst the roaring controversy surrounding the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the impending U.S. sanctions on Iran, this comes as a big relief for the global economy. October 1973’s oil crisis, where OPEC nations joined hands to squeeze supplies to the U.S. and Europe in retaliation for their support for Israel, resulted in the oil price quadrupling to US$12 per barrel in just a couple of months. Khalid al-Falih also added that for decades they have adopted an oil policy which is being used as a responsible economic tool, and Saudi Arabia has no intention of using its oil wealth as a political tool. He further emphasized on continuing the joint work between the OPEC nations and the non-OPEC nations to maintain the equilibrium of supply and demand, and gave assurance that if r

For the first time in six years, South Korea did not import any oil from Iran during the month of September -- move ahead of the impending U.S. sanctions. Uncertainty pertaining to getting waiver from the U.S. government is believed to have triggered this decision. South Korea, the world’s fifth-largest crude oil importer and an important client for Iran’s oil (alongside China and India), has steadily declined its share of Iranian oil imports since the beginning of the year.For the first nine months of 2018, ending in September, total imports stood at 7.15 million tonnes – down by 49.1% compared to 2017 despite being less expensive. Meanwhile, the share of U.S. crude oil exports to South Korea increased five times to 668,704 tonnes in the reported month, while imports of Saudi crude saw a decline of 6.9% to 3.41 million tonnes from 3.67 million tonnes a year earlier. As political tensions escalate between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and as U.S. sanctions against Iran

The Trump administrations withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement, and its subsequent decision to re-impose sanctions, could very well have rippling effects on global oil markets.  A number of US companies have already stopped their imports despite the sanctions going into effect in early November 2018.A number of companies from countries like India, however, which are heavily oil dependent, are continuing to import Iranian oil -- defying the Trump administration’s call for countries to completely cut-off trade. A slow but steady increase in the US's rig count during the course of 2018 has helped investors remain optimistic.

August marked the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) highest crude production this year, bolstered by Libya’s output. All members of OPEC collectively produced 32.74 million barrels a day last month, which is 420,000 barrels higher compared to July (according to a Bloomberg report).  In June, OPEC members agreed to increase their combined production by 1 million barrels a day.

American liquefied natural gas makes the list of China’s tariff targets. Among the $60 billion worth of U.S. goods that China has threatened to tax at 25% rate, LNG’s inclusion has potentially heated up the trade war even more – with the U.S. being the world’s top producer of natural gas and China being the second-largest importer of LNG as of last year.Around 15% of U.S. LNG exports were shipped to China in 2017. Earlier, Beijing had refrained from including natural gas/fuel in its list of U.S. goods that it planned to increase tariffs on, and at one point was even willing to buy more U.S. energy exports – a sentiment far off from the latest trade tensions.

The count of working oil rigs in the country increased by 10 this week to peak at 869 - their highest point so far this year, according to data from Baker Hughes. Since January, U.S. rig fleet has grown by more than 115 rigs since January.This should mitigate supply concerns following U.S. President Donald Trump’s restoring of sanctions on Iran and withdrawing from the nuclear deal with the nation.

U.S. crude exports to China had risen to 15 million barrels in June - the highest volume since 1996, according to U.S. Census Bureau and Energy Information Administration data. Earlier, the Chinese government was reportedly considering tariffs on U.S. crude, but changed its mind following consultations with industry associations and corporations.That reflects how much of a market clout U.S. crude exporters potentially have on Chinese refineries, more so as the latter continue to face supply disruptions from Venezuela and Iran.