This ranking evaluates how Fortune 500 companies are deploying AI, and how technology leaders value those investments relative to industry peers.

Fortune AIQ 75

The companies on the Global 500 employ 70.2 million people, and their revenue represents more than one-third of the world’s GDP.

Fortune Global 500

With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.5 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $24 billion.

America's Most Innovative Companies

Fortune AIQ 50

The corporations on our annual list of the world's 500 largest companies combined to generate $41.7 trillion in revenue over the past year.

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.6 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $22 billion.

The corporations on our annual list posted aggregate revenues of $41 trillion for the second year in a row.

Industries included in the sector are mining, oil and gas exploration and services, pipelines, refining, and utilities.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Energy

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The 200 companies on this list are transforming industries from the inside out.

The corporations on our annual list of the world’s largest companies delivered a record $41 trillion in aggregate revenues.

G500-2023-Exxon Mobil

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Riding a global windfall for the gas industry—in part the result of trade disruptions between Russia and Europe because of the war in Ukraine—America's largest publicly traded oil and gas company saw a 45% increase in revenue in 2022 and earned $56 billion in profits.\n\n–The company’s share price hit an intraday peak of $119 in February 2023, a record high since the two oil powerhouses, Exxon and Mobil, merged in 1999.\n–After activist investors successfully won three seats on the oil company's board in 2021, the energy giant eventually committed $17 billion to low-carbon initiatives from 2022 to 2027.  The company has continued to invest in fossil fuel production, increasing its output of crude oil, natural gas liquids, bitumen, and synthetic oil by 3% in 2022 compared with 2021.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:771,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;4&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:16770457},&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;12&quot;:0}">Riding a global windfall for the gas industry—in part the result of trade disruptions between Russia and Europe because of the war in Ukraine—America's largest publicly traded oil and gas company saw a 45% increase in revenue in 2022 and earned $56 billion in profits. 
<ul> 
 	<li><span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Riding a global windfall for the gas industry—in part the result of trade disruptions between Russia and Europe because of the war in Ukraine—America's largest publicly traded oil and gas company saw a 45% increase in revenue in 2022 and earned $56 billion in profits.\n\n–The company’s share price hit an intraday peak of $119 in February 2023, a record high since the two oil powerhouses, Exxon and Mobil, merged in 1999.\n–After activist investors successfully won three seats on the oil company's board in 2021, the energy giant eventually committed $17 billion to low-carbon initiatives from 2022 to 2027.  The company has continued to invest in fossil fuel production, increasing its output of crude oil, natural gas liquids, bitumen, and synthetic oil by 3% in 2022 compared with 2021.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:771,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;4&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:16770457},&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;12&quot;:0}">The company’s share price hit an intraday peak of $119 in February 2023, a record high since the two oil powerhouses, Exxon and Mobil, merged in 1999.</li> 
 	<li><span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Riding a global windfall for the gas industry—in part the result of trade disruptions between Russia and Europe because of the war in Ukraine—America's largest publicly traded oil and gas company saw a 45% increase in revenue in 2022 and earned $56 billion in profits.\n\n–The company’s share price hit an intraday peak of $119 in February 2023, a record high since the two oil powerhouses, Exxon and Mobil, merged in 1999.\n–After activist investors successfully won three seats on the oil company's board in 2021, the energy giant eventually committed $17 billion to low-carbon initiatives from 2022 to 2027.  The company has continued to invest in fossil fuel production, increasing its output of crude oil, natural gas liquids, bitumen, and synthetic oil by 3% in 2022 compared with 2021.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:771,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;4&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:16770457},&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;12&quot;:0}">After activist investors successfully won three seats on the oil company's board in 2021, the energy giant eventually committed $17 billion to low-carbon initiatives from 2022 to 2027.  The company has continued to invest in fossil fuel production, increasing its output of crude oil, natural gas liquids, bitumen, and synthetic oil by 3% in 2022 compared with 2021.</li> 
</ul>

The 300 companies on this list are transforming industries from the inside out.

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

F500 2023-Exxon Mobil

America’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company rose three spots on the Fortune 500. Riding a global windfall for the gas industry—in part the result of trade disruptions between Russia and Europe because of the war in Ukraine—Exxon Mobil saw a 45% increase in revenue in 2022 and earned $56 billion in profits. 
<ul> 
 	<li>The company’s share price hit an intraday peak of $119 in February 2023, a record high since the two oil powerhouses, Exxon and Mobil, merged in 1999.</li> 
 	<li>After activist investors successfully won three seats on the oil company's board in 2021, the energy giant eventually committed $17 billion to low-carbon initiatives from 2022 to 2027.  The company has continued to invest in fossil fuel production, increasing its output of crude oil, natural gas liquids, bitumen, and synthetic oil by 3% in 2022 compared with 2021.</li> 
</ul>

Industrials came out on top this year, with 22 companies featured on the list.

100 Fastest-Growing Companies

Aggregate sales hit $37.8 trillion last year—an increase of 19%, the highest annual growth rate in the list’s history.

G500 2022-12-ExxonMobil

Exxon Mobil bounced back from a rocky, pandemic-disrupted 2020, leaping from No. 23 to No. 12 on the Global 500. After COVID-related restrictions caused energy demand and oil and gas prices to plummet, Exxon Mobil took to cost-cutting to perk up its balance sheet, reducing its employee headcount by 9,000. Those efforts, along with a rebound in oil prices, helped position the company to achieve its biggest annual profit in seven years in 2021, as it earned more than $23 billion. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Exxon Mobil exited its Sakhalin-1 oil development in Russia, joining fellow energy giants like BP and Shell in divesting from the country, and announced that it would take a write-down of up to $4 billion. Having long taken heat for its contribution to climate change, Exxon Mobil has created a new business, Exxon Mobil Low Carbon Solutions, to commercialize technologies that could be used to achieve net-zero emissions.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

F500 2022 ExxonMobil

Exxon Mobil bounced back from a rocky, pandemic-disrupted 2020, leaping from 10th to sixth place on the Fortune 500. After COVID-related restrictions caused energy demand and oil and gas prices to plummet, Exxon Mobil took to cost-cutting to perk up its balance sheet, reducing its employee headcount by 9,000. Those efforts, along with a rebound in oil prices, helped position the company to achieve its biggest annual profit in seven years in 2021, as it earned more than $23 billion. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Exxon Mobil exited its Sakhalin-1 oil development in Russia, joining fellow energy giants like BP and Shell in divesting from that country, and announced that it would take a write-down of up to $4 billion. Having long taken heat for its contribution to climate change, Exxon Mobil has created a new company, Exxon Mobil Low Carbon Solutions, to commercialize technologies that could be used to achieve net-zero emissions.

Total revenue for the world’s biggest companies fell 4.8% to $31.7 trillion this year—the first decline in half a decade.

G500-2021-023-ExxonMobil

The oil and gas giant had a tumultuous year, in which global lockdowns shredded energy demand, and prices for oil futures briefly dipped into negative territory. The Irving, Texas-based company swung to a $22 billion annual loss in 2020, its largest ever, from a profit of over $14 billion the previous year; debt jumped too. “The past year presented the most challenging market conditions Exxon Mobil has ever experienced,” CEO Darren Woods said in a statement announcing its 2020 results. Meanwhile, the company said it would launch a new business unit to commercialize low-carbon technology. First up: carbon capture and storage.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-10-Exxon Mobil

The oil and gas giant fell seven places to No. 10 on the Fortune 500 after a tumultuous year in which global lockdowns shredded energy demand, and prices for oil futures briefly dipped into negative territory. The Irving, Texas–based company swung to a $22 billion annual loss in 2020, its largest ever, from a profit of over $14 billion the previous year; debt jumped too. “The past year presented the most challenging market conditions Exxon Mobil has ever experienced,” CEO Darren Woods said in a statement announcing its 2020 results. Meanwhile, the company said it would launch a new business unit to commercialize low-carbon technology. First up: carbon capture and storage.

For an astounding 13th straight year, Apple claims the top spot in Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

World's Most Admired Companies

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $33.3 trillion in revenues and $2.1 trillion in profits.

G500-2020-011-Exxon-Mobil

ExxonMobil, America’s largest publicly traded oil company, faced a challenging 2019. CEO Darren Woods pinned the problem squarely on low oil prices. The company earned $14.3 billion—a 31% drop in profits year-on-year—as debt levels rose by 24%; its investments, meanwhile, ran into oversupplied markets across its supply chain. Exxon did benefit from a divestment of production assets in Norway, and it dramatically ramped up its U.S. shale output. But the oil crash in early 2020 caused further headaches: for Q1, Exxon announced its first quarterly loss in more than three decades.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-003-Exxon-Mobil

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2019 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.7 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2018 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2017 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2016 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.6 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

Business insiders have spoken: Asked which companies they most admire, more than 4,100 executives, directors, and analysts chose these top 50 All-Stars.

The world's 500 largest companies generated $31.2 trillion in revenues and $1.7 trillion in profits in 2014. Together, this year's Fortune Global 500 employ 65 million people worldwide and are represented by 36 countries.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Global business is back. After limping through a worldwide financial crisis and economic slowdown, the 500 largest companies ranked by revenues shattered all sorts of performance records in 2013: They racked up combined revenues of $31.1 trillion, up 2.5% from 2012, and profits soared 27% to nearly $2 trillion. China’s 95 companies (up from 89 last year) posted $5.8 trillion in revenues. The U.S. has four fewer companies on the list than last year but remains (for now) the country leader, with 128 corporations on the list—including No. 1 Wal-Mart Stores—reporting $8.6 trillion in revenues. 

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

Company Info

Sector

Industry

Current All-Star Rank

Previous All-Star Rank

Website

Company Note

Fastest-growing Companies

Revenue 3 Yr Growth Rank

Revenue 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

EPS 3 Yr Growth Rank

EPS 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

Total Return 3 Yr Rank

Total Return 3 Yr Annual Rate

Beat S&P 500 3 Yr Return

Years on List

Strongest Dimension

Years on list

Previous rank

State

Key Financials (last Fiscal Year)

Revenues ($M)

Profits ($M)

Assets ($M)

Total Stockholder Equity ($M)

Profit Ratios

Profit as % of Revenues

Profits as % of Assets

Profits as % of Stockholder Equity

Earnings Per Share (last Fiscal Year)

Earnings Per Share ($)

EPS % Change (from prior fiscal year)

EPS % Change (5 year annual rate)

EPS % Change (10 year annual rate)

Total Return

Total Return to Investors (last year)

Total Return to Investors (5 year, annualized)

Total Return to Investors (10 year, annualized)

As the largest publicly traded oil and gas company in the U.S., Exxon Mobil engages in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas internationally. The company is also involved in the manufacturing, trade, transport, and sale of crude oil, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemicals, and other specialty products. Additionally, Exon Mobil is focused on the pursuit of lower-emission business opportunities, including carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, lower-emission fuels, and lithium. Exxon Mobil was founded in 1870.

Q2 2026

Q1 2026

Q4 2025

Q3 2025

Q2 2025

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Exxon Mobil Holdings (XOM): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

legacy

Exxon Mobil Holdings

exxon mobil holdings

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to ExxonMobil's 4th Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded. We appreciate you joining us today. I'm Jim Chapman, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations.

I'm joined by Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO and Kathy Michaels, Senior Vice President and CFO. This quarter's presentation and pre recorded remarks are available on the Investors section of our website. They're meant to accompany the Q4 earnings news release, which is posted in the same location. During today's presentation, we'll make forward looking comments, including discussions of our long term plans, which are still being developed and which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please read our cautionary statement on Slide 2.

You can find more information on the risks and uncertainties that apply to any forward looking statements in our SEC filings on our website. Note that we also provided supplemental information at the end of our earnings slides, which are also posted on the website. And now I'll turn it over to Darren for opening remarks.

and thanks for joining us. I'll focus my comments this morning on ExxonMobil's 2024 results and the company we've become. In her prepared presentation available on our website, Kathy dives deeper into our results and long term growth outlook. What our 2024 performance makes clear is that the transformed company we've built is delivering. We strengthened and further capitalized on our unique competitive advantages, technology, scale, integration, execution excellence, and of course people.

We demonstrated the strength of our consistent strategy now in its 8th year of driving greater value for society and shareholders alike. We set and achieved ambitious objectives. When we say we'll do something, we deliver. And we expanded our unrivaled set of opportunities for profitable growth, both now and long into the future. The ultimate source of cash, distributions and shareholder value is unchanging.

Investments in advantaged high return assets and projects. The proof of our transformation shows up in our performance. Operationally, we delivered strong results across the board, including safety, a bedrock commitment underpinning everything we do reliability, where we achieved record performance in our product solutions business and emissions, where we've achieved a more than 60% reduction in methane intensity since 2016. Fin Financially, we demonstrated our steadily improving earnings power across a range of metrics. We delivered earnings of $34,000,000,000 in 20.24, our 3rd highest result in a decade despite softer market conditions.

For 5 years, we've grown earnings excluding identified items at a compounded annual growth rate of nearly 30%. We generated cash flow from operations of $55,000,000,000 also our 3rd highest in the decade to fund profitable growth, maintain our financial strength and reward shareholders. Excluding working capital, our free cash flow more than covered shareholder distributions and we delivered a return on capital employed of 13%. Over 5 years, our average return on capital employed is an industry leading 11%. When you set aside cash balances and capital and projects that are under construction and yet to start up, our 2024 ROCE rises to roughly 17%, with a 5 year average of about 15%.

Our disciplined approach to investing continues to generate returns well above our cost of capital. Every part of our business contributed to our success. We built the best upstream portfolio in the industry. In 2024, we achieved the highest ever production from our advantaged assets and the highest liquids production from our overall portfolio in more than 40 years. In the Permian, we delivered record production from both our heritage ExxonMobil assets and our Pioneer assets.

Together, the 2 are even stronger. As we said last month, we now see an average of more than $3,000,000,000 per year of synergies from our combined assets, with production growing from 1,500,000 oil equivalent barrels per day at the end of 2024 to 2,300,000 barrels per day by 2,030, a more than 50% increase. This growth will further strengthen U. S. Energy security and we'll do it with even better overall environmental performance.

In Guyana, we delivered record production from the world's premier deepwater development. We've gone from discovery to 650,000 barrels per day in just 10 years. The pace for deepwater projects the world has rarely seen. The benefits are tremendous, not just profitable growth for ExxonMobil, but rapidly rising living standards for the Guyanese people. The GDP per capita more than tripling since we started production in 2020.

Turning to product solutions, we further enhanced our already industry leading portfolio by divesting non strategic assets and establishing the foundation for new to world products that outperform existing alternatives. The advantaged projects we brought online over time drove record sales of high value products in 2024. Our ongoing shift to a more profitable product mix is a key driver of earnings improvement in product solutions. We also advanced our plans to develop and grow new businesses, most notably our Proxima Resin Systems and Carbon Materials with an estimated total addressable market of $100,000,000,000 by 2,030. Within low carbon solutions, we demonstrated strength in commercial interest through additional customer contracts and equity partnerships.

We're the only company in the world today with an end to end system capable of capturing, transporting and storing carbon emissions. At 6,700,000 tons per year, we've contracted more CO2 for transport and storage than any other company by far. We're also well positioned to meet surging demand from data centers for low carbon power and on our timetable that alternatives such as nuclear simply can't match. On the hydrogen and lithium fronts, we announced new equity partnerships and offtake agreements that demonstrate the significant market interest these new businesses are generating. Our success in 2024 and every other year is due to our people.

It's not just that we recruit the best or that we give them the most challenging assignments to build the best capability, it's our culture, our mindset. When this team takes the field, we expect to win. That drive underpins our value creation in 2025 as well. We'll bring online a full slate of major projects to increase profitable volumes, make more profitable products and lay the foundation for profitable new businesses. To name a few, we'll start up Yellowtail in Guyana, our 4th and largest development to date.

In the Permian, we'll further improve resource recovery using our next generation cube design and patented lightweight proppant. This is the right kind of growth, low cost of supply, low emissions intensity and high returns. At our Singapore refining chemical complex, our zit upgrade project, we use new to the world technology to transform bottom of the barrel molecules into a new grade of high value lube base stocks. We'll transform high sulfur low value export fuels into higher value diesel for the UK market at our expanded refinery folly. We'll expand our capacity to produce higher value performance polyethylene and polypropylene at our petrochemical complex in China.

And we'll add new advanced recycling facilities at Baytown to meet the growing demand for certified circular polymers, which has the added benefit of keeping 100 of 1,000,000 of pounds of plastic waste from being burned or buried. Earlier this month, we sued the California Attorney General and activist groups for defamation and interference in our advanced recycling business. As our filing made clear, the suit is about abuse of the public trust and the hijacking of the legal system for financial and political gain. I want to emphasize that we don't take these actions lightly. Unfortunately, it's another example of what it takes to defend our company and preserve the value we create for our customers, shareholders and broader society.

Overall, the major projects we start up in 2025 will deliver more than $3,000,000,000 in earnings potential in 2026 at both constant and current prices and margins. And this earnings gain excludes the uplift from our Permian growth plans. As we showed at the corporate plan update, ExxonMobil's runway of profitable growth extends along into the future. Our new technology driven businesses such as Proxima Products and Carbon Materials creates huge opportunities to expand beyond traditional fuels and chemicals into higher growth, higher margin markets that are decoupled from commodity price fluctuations. This year, we expect to start up a new facility that can produce 25,000 metric tons of Proxima products and plan to grow to nearly 200,000 tons by 2,030.

We're committed to investing in these new businesses in a stepwise fashion, progresses in tandem with demonstrated success in the marketplace. The change in administrations in the U. S, I want to say a few words about the right policy framework for successful energy future. I'll begin by noting that through 2,030, roughly 90% of our planned CapEx is allocated to established fully functioning markets for energy and products that require no policy support. Only about 10% is earmarked for nascent lower emissions markets where market forces have yet to fully take hold.

The case in point is our Baytown low carbon hydrogen project, which requires incentives under Section 45 of the Inflation Reduction Act to be economically viable. We believe these incentives are critical to establishing a fully market based future where hydrogen competes head to head with traditional fuels. But the end goal is clear, a system where no energy source remains dependent on government subsidies. Just as energy sources should not be supported by governments in perpetuity, it should not be artificially discouraged either. The prior administration's moratorium on new LNG export facilities and its executive order limiting offshore drilling or policy mistakes that the new administration is right to reverse.

Oil and natural gas remain essential to economic growth, jobs and national security, both for ourselves and our allies around the globe. Over the longer term to achieve broad de carbonization, government policy should set carbon intensity standards on products. We believe this is the best way to engage the collective efforts of industry and leverage competitive market forces. To drive further innovation, reduce the most emissions at the lowest cost, policies must remain technology agnostic. Government should not pick winners and losers.

Intensity standards establish a level playing field and have a strong precedent. They are most recently used to successfully and affordably reduce sulfur and marine fuel. In closing, I want to say again how proud I am of the people of ExxonMobil and how pleased I am that we are creating unmatched value for our shareholders. Compared to the IOCs, over the last 5 years, we've grown cash flow from operations at a roughly 15% compounded annual growth rate, more than double the closest competitor. We've distributed more than $125,000,000,000 in dividends and buybacks, dollars 30,000,000,000 more than the closest competitor.

And we delivered a total shareholder return compounded annual growth of 14%, 600 basis points higher than the closest competitor. Looking ahead, the value creation arc of the company is equally distinguished. We're going to build an even more advantaged asset portfolio with 60% of our upstream production from advantaged assets by 2,030. That's nearly the same amount as the next largest IOC's total production. We're going to develop an even more profitable product mix with 80% growth of high value product sales and product solutions by 2,030.

We're going to be an even more efficient operator, taking an additional $6,000,000,000 in cost out of the business. We're going to generate even more earnings in cash on a constant price and margin basis. We're confident we'll deliver 2,030 by 2,030, dollars 20,000,000,000 more in earnings and $30,000,000,000 more in cash flow, all of which enables us to keep our commitment to sustainable, competitive and growing shareholder returns. With that, I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, Darren. Now let's move to our Q and A session. As a reminder, we ask each participant to keep it to just one question. And with that, operator, we'll ask you to please open the line for the first question.

Thank you. The question and answer session will be conducted electronically. The first question comes from Neil Mehta of Goldman Sachs.

Yes. Thank you so much, Darren, and a good rundown there. The question I had was really around project startups and specifically Guyana. Can you give us a sense of the key milestones you're watching for in 2025 at this asset? How it continues to track relative to expectations?

And there's been a lot of investor debate following the upstream day about what the long term capacity of this asset could look like. So any thoughts on terminal plateau would be great.

Yes, sure. Good morning, Neil, and thanks for the question. I'd say as you look across the portfolio of projects that we've got slated for start up in 2025, we feel really good about where they all are. The fact that they're tracking consistent with what we've talked about publicly and in fact, my guess is that many of them will come in slightly ahead of that. With respect to Yellowtail specifically, I'd say we like we really like what we're seeing there.

I think that team who's managing the Guyana developments continues to demonstrate a project after project that you just find new ways to innovate and to overcome the challenges and to deliver these things below budget often times and certainly ahead of schedule. And my guess will be for Yellowtail that will come in a little better than what we've publicly talked about. But 3Q 'twenty five is a good number, good date to be thinking about. Longer term, I know I've been part of the conversation in December about what we project going forward in the capacity versus utilization. All I would say is that that's a challenging to project that far in the future.

There's a lot of variables that go into the developments across all of our upstream portfolios. We're going to move from where we're at today of roughly 10 reservoirs to roughly 40 by 2,030. A lot of optimization that goes around that, managing those reservoirs, a lot of unknowns. Obviously, there's a depletion curve that continues to bring volumes down. But at the same time, our teams are working hard on infills and keeping the utilization up.

And so we've given our best guess or estimate as to where we'll be. But I would tell you that Neil, myself, all of us, frankly, including the team who's managing it are challenging themselves to make sure that we're fully utilizing those assets. And my expectation is, as we've demonstrated over the last several years, we'll probably do better than what we're estimating. But I think, I want to make sure that we're not over promising and under delivering. And so we've got I think a really sound forecast for where those units will be producing.

And again, we're challenging the team and they're challenging themselves to deliver more than that. And if I was a betting person, which I am, I would bet they'll do it.

The next question is from John Royall of JPMorgan.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question.

I was hoping for an update on your expectations around North American tariffs, assuming those are implemented and assuming they're in place for a material amount of time. You have upstream and downstream assets in Canada, but also downstream assets in the U. S. That could be impacted. So how should we think about what that could mean for ExxonMobil overall?

Good morning, John. Thanks for the question. I'll tell you the way that we're looking at, obviously, there's a lot of noise and speculation in this space. And I would put it in the same category as we think about prices and where prices are going. At the end of the day, what we can control is our how effective and efficient we are as operators, making sure that we're producing the highest value products for the kit that we have and efficiently getting it to market.

And I think that's going to at the end of the day, no matter where the market moves, there's a cost of supply curve. All the work we've been doing over that the last 8 years has been to drive our production to the low end of the cost of supply curve so that we have a significant margin versus the last marginal barrel of production that's required to meet the market demand. None of that's going to change with tariffs. That's all going get shifted around and our view is we're going to continue to be a very cost competitive low cost to supply source and therefore we'll continue to outperform competition. And that's basically how we're looking at it as we kind of wade through the noise that's out there in the media and the press with respect to all the speculation around policy.

The next question is from Betty Jiang of Barclays.

Good morning. I want to ask about your data center strategy or enabling the expansion of AI in the U. S. Carbon capture CCS value chain is a key competitive advantage for Exxon. Are you seeing any interest in the market for the low carbon gas solutions versus just traditional gas power plants?

How quickly do you think Exxon can bring these solutions to the market? And just given the recent news with DeepSeq, do you see any changing tune from your conversation with the end customers? Thanks.

Yes. Good morning, Betty. Thanks for the question. Yes, I think you hit on really what is the nexus of our strategy with respect to data centers, which is offering decarbonized power for data centers. We're not interested as we mentioned in December in going into a utility business like power generation.

Utility returns for power generation would not compete in our portfolio. But leveraging the end to end system that we have for capturing transporting and storing CO2 is a huge advantage and brings a lot of value for hyperscalers who are looking to have decarbonized power and to manage their emissions. And I would say that there continues to be a very strong desire for many of these customers to build data centers that are decarbonized. And so a lot of interest in that space. We're having a lot of continuing conversations.

We have sites that have been selected. We've got we've been doing the work to decarbonize our natural gas, which would be an important feed in a low carbon data center. And of course, we've got work we've been doing with our partners around carbon capture and storage and we've got the green line. And so we've got all the pieces today. We've been in early engineering for these centers.

So we know exactly what it's going to take. We've got a very as you know large and successful project organization. This is right in their wheelhouse. And so we're acting as a bit of an integrator in the early days to accelerate the schedules, which is really important to many of the customers. Our view is we'll bring this on faster than anybody else in industry and we'll certainly bring it on faster than any other opportunities for decarbonization.

My guess would be depending on how the discussions go with customers that we could get a site up and going by 2028 and then have it decarbonized into 2029. I would say it's rough order of how to think about that. But we're well into the development phase. Obviously, a lot of dynamics here, a lot of moving parts and variables, in large part on the customer side. So we're there, we're available.

We want to make sure that we've got an offering that meets their needs and when they're ready for them, we'll be ready. With respect to DeepSeq, I would say that hasn't impacted the conversations to date that we're having with our customers.

The next question is from Devin McDermott of Morgan Stanley.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So I wanted to come back to Neil's earlier question on growth. There's a lot in the queue in the near term beyond just Guyana. You highlighted 10 startups with over $3,000,000,000 of earnings, earnings that also hold the current margins and I appreciate that guidance.

But I was wondering if you could provide a little bit more detail on the timing for some of the key projects driving that growth as we move through 2025, how they impact earnings through the year? And then when you expect to get to that full over $3,000,000,000 run rate? Thanks.

Yes, sure. Devin, thanks for the question. I think you're right. It is a it's going to be a busy year with a lot of startups. And I would maybe just kind of walk through the key projects that we've been talking with you all about and start with the China Chemical Complex.

We mechanically completed that at the end of last year. We've been going through start up sequencing and making sure that each piece of that kit is working as designed and we'll bring all that integrated together. And my expectation is we'll get it started up here sometime in Q1 back into Q1. In Folly, we're building conversion facilities to produce low sulfur diesel. My expectation is we'll have that in early Q2.

You've got 2 advanced recycling units that we are building at Baytown. So despite the Attorney General's accusations that these are myths, we've actually got 2 more units starting up, 1 in the Q2 and 1 in the Q4, which continues to have see a lot of interest by consumers for recycled product. And so that capacity is desperately needed to meet that customer demand. We've got all the modules that we need for the Strathcona renewable diesel, looking to basically try to get that started up here in the Q2, expect that to happen. The other real big project that we've got is the Singapore resid upgrade project.

That is new to the world technology. We feel really good about the progress we've made there. We've got all the vessels loaded with catalyst. Some of that catalyst is proprietary. The largest catalyst load we've ever done, we did that successfully and expect to be mechanically complete sometime here in Q1 and get into the start up and sequencing and expect to be up and running kind of the back end of the Q2, I would hope.

Proxima, Q2 is when we expect to get some more capacity on. And then going forward in time, a lot more capacity coming on as we continue to work with customers and sell into what we think is some very attractive applications where there's really good demand. So continue to see good progress there and that project is coming along. Bacalhau, I expect sometime in 2025, probably closer to the Q3. Yellowtail, Q3.

And then as we've said with Golden Pass, probably the back end of 2025, we expect to see 1st LNG and mechanically complete kind of around mid year is the time frame that we run through all of those. And then as we mentioned, on a constant price basis, which we provide for you guys to kind of see the underlying fundamentals of these projects, expect to see more than $3,000,000,000 of improved earnings once they're up and running full, which we're considering in 2026. And at the same time, you look at the current price margin environment that we're in, which is obviously pretty challenging. We're still, as you rack up all those projects, still above $3,000,000,000 of earnings contribution. So and that's frankly the goal is to make sure that these projects are resilient to the bottom of the cycle conditions.

So feel pretty good about that portfolio of projects and where we are.

The next question is from Doug Leggate of Wolfe Research.

Hi, everybody. Thank you for having my questions. Thanks for all the details, Darren. I think you missed out your 25% of Tengiz in your start up list, but who's counting? My question specifically is about I hate to be predictable, it's about your cash distribution philosophy, buybacks versus dividends.

And I want to kind of position it like this. If I look at the buybacks last year and the $20,000,000,000 commitment for the next 2 years, you could make a case that you're basically buying back the shares that you issued for Pioneer. And I know it's not as cut and dried as that, but I'm curious with the inflection in free cash flow that you clearly have, your capacity for dividend growth is substantially greater than the 4% bump that you gave to shareholders now for several years running. Are you waiting to buy in the Pioneer stock before you step up that dividend is my question?

And so that's really, Doug, a coincidence, right, that we moved up our buyback pace in conjunction with Pioneer, obviously, because Pioneer was giving us incremental cash flow to be able to do that. So that moved up our pace from $17,500,000,000 to $20,000,000,000 annually. And we've guided that we expect to be at that pace for this year and next year assuming continued reasonable market conditions. But it is, I would say, just a coincidence that that $20,000,000,000 pace means that we'll essentially buy back the shares from Pioneer over a 3 year period. If we go to look at our philosophy overall in terms of the dividend, we have been clear that we look at that dividend and we want it to be sustainable, we want it to be competitive and we want it to be growing.

And we are always looking at it through that lens. The share buyback program as a secondary benefit actually reduces the overall dividend in absolute terms as we continue to take shares out of the market. But that's how we look at the dividend philosophy. And as you know, we've increased the annual dividend for 42 years running, which is a claim only 4% of companies in the S and P 500 can make. And so we're very focused on and understand the importance of that dividend for our shareholders.

And we also realize compared to other companies, we have a quite large retail shareholder base that are very focused on the dividend. And so that's how we look at and evaluate things.

I appreciate the answer. I would just footnote that dividend growth per share seems to be the driver or at least the mechanism for market recognition of value. So that's why we're still keen on this issue, but I appreciate the answers. Thanks so much.

The next question is from Steve Richardson of Evercore ISI.

Hi, good morning. I was wondering, Darren, now that we've had a little bit of time to sit with the corporate plan update and all the visibility you provided out till 2,030 and maybe this is beyond 2025 question, but it seems to us that internal to Exxon, the biggest risk to hitting that return on capital employed target seems to be on the CapEx line. And so I was wondering if you could kind of talk about the forward look on CapEx upside downside risks, any proportion that you think is market indexed versus contractual and it would just seem to us like a lot of the things you're doing in the next couple of years are replication of things that you've already executed in the last number of years, Guyana, Permian, those types of things? Thanks.

Yes. Thank you, Steve. Appreciate the question. As we talked about as part of the corporate plan presentation in December, if you look at the CapEx profile, a large portion of it is kind of dealing with, as you say, the things that we've already demonstrated we know how to do. And frankly, the CapEx that we're spending in that space is fairly flat as we continue to grow volumes and then the cash flow and earnings that go with it.

So as we're advancing, I'd say the upgrade of our existing portfolio to advantaged volumes, we're doing that with a fairly stable and flat CapEx profile, which we feel really good about. And that reflects the continued efficiency that we're finding as we apply technologies. And my expectation is as we go forward, we're learning a ton. Even as we bring in new technology, begin to apply it, we're learning on that technology and finding additional opportunities. So I think we're on a really good trajectory with respect to continuing to grow advantage volumes and continuing to drive capital efficiency.

And so that's we've laid out our best estimate now, but again, what I would say is really like what we're finding as we deploy these technologies and see the improvements. And then on top of that, we've got the lower emissions spend that we've laid out and the new products that we're looking to new markets, new businesses that we're looking to establish with the Proxima Resin System and the Carbon Material Ventures, which again we see really high levels of interest from customers. We're continuing with working with them in trials and testing out the product. We feel good about what we're seeing there. Those investments, which is really the growth that you're seeing with our capital spend are all conditioned on making sure that those products, the value proposition that we believe we have there is realized and compensated and generate high returns for those investments.

So I'd say those are less those are contingent. We feel today pretty confident that we will pursue those investments because of what we're seeing today. But we're not going to go ahead with them until we're convinced that the value is there and we'll realize that value and the investments and get generated an advantage returns. And that's how we're thinking about it. Similar with the low carbon, we've said before where we need policy support, that policy needs to be in place and we need to have customers who are signing up for the offtakes and that work continues.

And so there's I'd say on top of the steady base that we've established here in 2024, all the additional CapEx will basically be conditioned on ensuring that we get good returns on that incremental investment in these new businesses and new opportunities. Anything to add, Kathy?

And so the other thing I would just say is we have a huge competitive advantage in our global projects organization. So you're talking about, hey, one of the things as we look out and we think about continuing to improve your return on capital employed and the new projects that are coming online, that gives us great confidence. And the fact that they continue, especially in our base business to figure out how to get more and more efficient. So Guyana would be a great example of that, right? We get more and more learnings in terms of looking at those reservoirs and exactly what the kit is that we need in order to optimize production, I think is a significant advantage for us.

If you look at the biggest risks, I mean what you spend in bringing a project online is definitely has some risk associated with it. And again, I think we have competitive advantage there. What you get out of the ground, right, understanding that I think is really critical and the Permian would be a great example of that. The synergies we're driving in Pioneer as we look at recovery rates, as we look at implementing new technology like a different approach to proppant. I think those all give us really significant confidence in our ability to continue to improve overall

capital returns. We have an advantaged set of projects. It puts us in

Hi, good morning. You have 2 major LNG projects coming online and are a major seller of LNG already. You've also signed some contracts to buy LNG from third parties that may now kind of put the LNG permit being lifted have a better chance of coming online later in the decade. Can you give more color on your LNG contracting strategy from here and how you see the LNG market in the medium term oversupplied or not?

Sure. Thanks for the question. So I think as general context, I'd say as you look forward, we continue to see a really healthy demand and important role for LNG around the world as we go out into the future and you see economies grow and people's standards of living improve and as countries around the world look to decarbonize and back out coal, LNG is going to play a really important role. So that broader theme we see continuing to play out well into the 2,050 timeframe. So we think LNG is going to be an important product and continuing to find ways to bring on advantage supply of LNG is pretty critical to our strategy.

As you know, the market today in these projects are underpinned by long term sales contracts. We continue to progress those contracts in conjunction with the projects that we're developing. That continues to be the foundation for the LNG market. And so a majority of the production that we are looking to bring online will be underpinned by long term contracts, which are linked to crude pricing. And that I think reflects really the demand that you're seeing from customers out there and the need for continued gas.

There's a portion that we're leaving uncontracted to support the work that we're doing with our trading organization and growing that business. And as that market grows, becomes more liquid, we continue to see opportunities to optimize around that market and extract some additional value through trading. And so we're making sure that we've got volume available for that.

The next question is from Bob Brackett of Bernstein Research.

Good morning. A bit of a follow-up on the LNG theme, but more specifically around the FID cadence this year and next. You've got Papua LNG and PNG, you've got Rovuma and maybe even Coral North in Mozambique. Those are very different investments than adding another well in the Permian. What do you need to see in terms of maybe returns and certainty and maybe even local situation to give you the confidence to move forward on those multi decadal assets?

Good morning, Bob. Thanks for the question. You're right that each of these projects are somewhat unique. However, what I would tell you is, the constant here in terms of how we're evaluating and deciding to go forward is making sure that they're low cost to supply. So they're competitive supply sources in a market so that as we move forward irrespective of how the market develops in the highs and the lows that we have an advantaged cost of supply visavis the rest of the supply curve and some of our competitors.

So that's a critical component. And with that comes then an advantaged project and advantaged returns. And so that is fundamental to what we're looking at with each of these. And as Kathy mentioned earlier in the call, the project organization that we had brings a huge advantage in this space to help us drive these projects to the left hand side of the cost of supply curve. I'd also add that our technology organization that we've established and the focus that they're putting on and working with the projects organization is another advantage that helps kind of drive that to the left hand side of the cost of supply curve.

So that's I would say that the primary variables at play here. Obviously, we look at the stability of the area that we're in. We've got a really long history of managing that exposure and risk. We feel pretty good around what we're seeing in the local communities that we're looking at and the steps we can take to make sure that we can develop a long term successful business there in a stable environment. So I think that piece of it, while certainly something that we need to manage and be aware of, isn't impacting, isn't the largest variable with respect to how we think about moving forward on these projects.

Very clear. So we should think 2025 for PNG and 2026 for Rovuma still?

We're working towards the 2026 timeframe in the Rovuma and P and G. We're continuing to work through a target hopefully to have something near the back end of this year for FID.

The next question is from Neal Dingmann of Truist Securities.

Good morning. Thanks for the time. Darren, my question is around your long term plan for I believe you all have suggested about growing the earnings around $20,000,000,000 in cash flow by an additional $30,000,000,000 by 2,030. And I think that goes along with the U. S.

Exxon Mobil Holdings (XOM) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Company Participants