The US oil boom helps ExxonMobil and Chevron notch their second-biggest profits in a decade

• The surge in US oil production helped big US oil companies post their second-biggest annual profits in a decade, the FT reported.
• ExxonMobil and Chevron notched fourth-quarter profits of $36 billion and $21.4 billion, respectively.

America's oil giants are seeing big gains from the boom-time production that flooded the market with crude last year.

ExxonMobil and Chevron both posted their second-biggest annual profits in a decade, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

Exxon recorded a $36 billion profit for the fourth quarter, down from the $55.7 billion in the year before, but otherwise the highest since 2012. Chevron, notched a $21.4 billion profit, also down from $35.5 billion in the previous year, but outside of that its strongest since 2013.

Both companies missed the mark on their revenues, with Exxon recording $84.3 billion versus the $85.2 billion expected, and Chevron posting a $47.18 billion as opposed to the expected $51.62 billion.

"If you take the market out of it, you take prices and margins out and just look at it on an apples to apples basis, we've more than doubled our earnings power from 2019 to 2023," Exxon CEO Darren Woods told CNBC on Friday.

The fact that profit numbers are lower than 2022 — when turmoil in Ukraine gave oil companies a huge boost — is a byproduct of record US oil supply. The US pumped more oil than ever in 2023, hitting a record 13.3 million barrels a day, which dragged prices 11% lower for the year. But the surge of production helped keep profits near decade highs.

The likes of Exxon and Chevron found themselves at the center of this blockbuster year. As a result, the companies have ratcheted up their capital expenditure budgets for 2024, pouring more money into the Permian Basin — the epicenter of the shale boom.

Chevron's chief financial officer said their strong quarter was led by record production in the Permian Basin, per the Financial Times. And Exxon's output in the Permian and Guyana was up 18% in 2023.