Exxon Mobil Corporation announced fourth-quarter and full year 2022 financial results that came above market consensus. The company generated earnings of $55.7 billion and $76.8 billion of cash flow from operating activities in 2022 by leveraging an advantaged portfolio and delivering strong operational performance .

Fourth-quarter 2022 earnings of $12.8 billion, or $3.09 per share included unfavorable items of $1.3 billion associated with additional European taxes on the energy sector and asset impairments, partly offset by one-time adjustments related to the Sakhalin expropriation.

Capital and exploration expenditures were $7.5 billion in the fourth quarter, bringing full-year 2022 investments to $22.7 billion.

“While our results clearly benefited from a favorable market, the counter-cyclical investments we made before and during the pandemic provided the energy and products people needed as economies began recovering and supplies became tight. Our plan for 2023 calls for further progress on our strategic objectives, which include leading the industry in safety, operating, and financial performance.” said Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer.

ExxonMobil announced also the next step in the development of the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production facility. The integrated ExxonMobil Baytown facility is expected to produce 1 billion cubic feet of low-carbon hydrogen per day, that would make it the largest lowcarbon hydrogen project in the world with an expected startup in 2027-2028.

Full-year Financial Highlights
• Full-year 2022 earnings were $55.7 billion compared with $23.0 billion in 2021, an increase of $32.7 billion. Identified items unfavorably impacted earnings by $3.4 billion mainly from Sakhalin-1 impairments in the first quarter. Earnings excluding these identified items were $59.1 billion, an increase of $36.1 billion from prior year.
• Other factors impacting results were price and margin improvements driven by recovering demand and tight supply, the favorable mark-to-market impact of unsettled derivatives, and volume increases on strong refining throughput and growth of advantaged assets. Structural cost savings and disciplined expense management helped to offset inflation and higher operating costs from growth projects and capacity additions. In addition, results also benefited from lower Corporate and Financing costs as well as net favorable one-time items.
• Structural cost savings now total $7 billion compared to 2019. The company achieved an additional $2 billion of savings during the year and is on track to deliver $9 billion of total annual savings in 2023 vs. 2019.
• Cash increased by $22.9 billion in 2022 with free cash flow of $62.1 billion. Shareholder distributions were $29.8 billion, including $14.9 billion in dividends and $14.9 billion of share repurchases. The company also increased and extended its share-repurchase program with up to $35 billion of cumulative share repurchases in 2023-2024.
• The Corporation declared a first-quarter dividend of $0.91 per share, payable on March 10, 2023, to shareholders of record of Common Stock at the close of business on February 14, 2023.
• Net-debt-to-capital ratio improved to about 5%, reflecting 2022 debt retirements of $7.2 billion and a period-end cash balance of $29.7 billion, further strengthening the balance sheet and providing greater financial flexibility.
• Non-core asset sales and divestments generated $5.2 billion of cash proceeds during the year.