On Thursday, in the course of current trade, Shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), dropped 0.20%, and is now trading at $88.05.
Exxon Mobil, declared estimated first quarter 2015 earnings of $4.9 billion, or $1.17 per diluted share, contrast with $9.1 billion a year earlier, demonstrating the value of the company’s integrated businesses in a lower commodity price environment.
During the quarter, ExxonMobil produced 4.2 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, an enhance of 97,000 barrels per day over the first quarter of 2014. Volumes were up 2.3 percent, benefiting from new developments in Papua New Guinea, Canada, Angola, Indonesia, and U.S. onshore liquids plays. Field decline and maintenance impacts were mostly offset by higher entitlement volumes.
Downstream and Chemical segment earnings were strong across all regions, driven by lower feedstock costs, improved demand, and the company’s competitive product and asset mix.
During the quarter, the corporation distributed $3.9 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share purchases to reduce shares outstanding.
First Quarter 2015 vs. First Quarter 2014
Upstream earnings were $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2015, down $4.9 billion from the first quarter of 2014. Lower liquids and gas realizations reduced earnings by $5.5 billion. Higher volumes and mix effects raised earnings by $340 million, reflecting growth from new developments. All other items, counting favorable tax effects, raised earnings by $250 million.
On an oil-equivalent basis, production raised 2.3 percent from the first quarter of 2014. Liquids production totaled 2.3 million barrels per day, up 129,000 barrels per day, while natural gas production was 11.8 billion cubic feet per day, down 188 million cubic feet per day from 2014. Project ramp-up and entitlement effects were partly offset by field decline and maintenance activities.
The U.S. Upstream operations recorded a loss of $52 million, down $1.3 billion from the first quarter of 2014. Non-U.S. Upstream earnings were $2.9 billion, down $3.6 billion from the preceding year.
Downstream earnings were $1.7 billion, up $854 million from the first quarter of 2014. Stronger margins raised earnings by $1 billion. Volume and mix effects raised earnings by $70 million. All other items, primarily higher maintenance expense, reduced earnings by $260 million. Petroleum product sales of 5.8 million barrels per day were flat with the preceding year’s first quarter.
Earnings from the U.S. Downstream were $567 million, down $56 million from the first quarter of 2014. Non-U.S. Downstream earnings of $1.1 billion were $910 million higher than last year.
Exxon Mobil Corporation explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas in the United States, Canada/South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia/Oceania. It also manufactures and markets commodity petrochemicals, counting olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics, and specialty products; and transports and sells crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products.
During an Afternoon trade, Shares of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG), dipped -0.22%, and is now trading at $56.55.
American International Group, declared key new partnerships with leading cybersecurity experts to expand the risk mitigation and prevention services it offers cyber insurance clients.
The partnerships comprise: K2 Intelligence, BitSight Technologies, RSA, and Axio Global. Services from these partners complement AIG’s market leading CyberEdge® risk administration and insurance product, which assists clients manage the expanding threat of cybersecurity attacks and failures.
Through these partnerships, AIG CyberEdge policyholders can access pre-breach threat intelligence, governance tools, and the latest best practices to assist gain a holistic understanding of their cybersecurity exposure, counting the responsiveness of their insurance program to a cyber attack.
AIG is making the following new services accessible to its CyberEdge clients:
- Customized threat intelligence from K2 Intelligence. A long-standing expert investigative and intelligence firm, K2 Intelligence uses sophisticated intelligence gathering techniques and investigative tools to collect and analyze chatter about an organization from the deep web and dark net, hidden areas of the Internet where cyber criminals are known to conduct business. Companies can leverage K2 Intelligence’s proprietary tools and best-of-breed tradecraft to perform due diligence when engaging in a merger or acquisition, or to manage its overall cyber risk.
- BitSight Security Ratings by BitSight Technologies. A well-known security rating expert, BitSight analyzes externally observable data such as botnets, malware, and spam, to continually rate a company’s cybersecurity posture. When a company’s or a vendor’s security rating changes, it may be a signal that their systems have been compromised.
- Cybersecurity maturity assessment by RSA. The security division of EMC and developer of RSA Archer®, a leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solution, RSA leverages the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to assist companies identify key functional areas of improvement to achieve an improved cybersecurity risk posture.
- Consultation with Axio Global, experts in developing complete cyber risk administration solutions. Through an approach that integrates exposure quantification, program evaluation, benchmarking, and the deployment of appropriate insurance coverage, Axio’s work addresses the full range of potential cyber losses, counting physical damage, bodily injury, environmental damage, and other advanced forms of loss.
American International Group, Inc. provides insurance products and services for commercial, institutional, and individual customers in the United States, the Asia Pacific, and internationally.
Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), during its Thursday’s current trading session fell -1.46%, and is now trading at $66.36.
Visa, declared it is expanding its technology research capabilities globally and appointing Min Wang to Senior Vice President of Visa Research Labs. Min will report directly to Rajat Taneja, Executive Vice President of Technology, Visa Inc.
Visa Research Labs will expand Visa’s research and development capabilities globally. Building on existing technology research and incubator efforts, Visa Research Labs will focus on applied science and deep research. The new function will engage with academics, global think tanks, governments and security experts on emerging technologies that are critical to the payments industry.
Wang is a leading and renowned technology research scientist and holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from Duke University, and a M.S. and B.S. in Computer Science from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. She joins Visa from Google Research where she was a Senior Staff Research Scientist focused on data mining. She also held senior staff research roles at HP Labs China and at the Unified Data Analytics Department at the IBM Watson Research Center.
Visa’s expansion of technology research is part of a global strategy to enhance its technology footprint and establish technology and innovation centers in key markets. The company has also recently launched a global recruitment program to attract tech talent to Visa and plans to create an additional 2,000 full-time technologist positions.
Visa Inc., a payments technology company, operates as a retail electronic payments network worldwide. The company facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses, and government entities.
Finally, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), gained 0.88% Thursday.
Today, ConocoPhillips stated first-quarter 2015 earnings of $272 million, or $0.22 per share, contrast with first-quarter 2014 earnings of $2.1 billion, or $1.71 per share. Not taking into account special items, first-quarter 2015 adjusted earnings were a net loss of $222 million, or ($0.18) per share, contrast with first-quarter 2014 adjusted earnings of $2.3 billion, or $1.81 per share. Special items for the current quarter related to a deferred tax benefit from a change in U.K. tax law, partially offset by restructuring costs across the company.
Highlights
- Achieved first-quarter production of 1,610 MBOED.
- Five percent year-over-year production growth from ongoing operations, adjusted for Libya, downtime and dispositions.
- Seven percent year-over-year reduction in operating costs; 12 percent reduction when adjusted for restructuring charges of $104 million pre-tax.
- First production at Eldfisk II and the Brodgar H3 subsea tie-back in Europe, in addition to Bayu Undan Phase III in Australia.
- On track for five major project startups at Surmont 2, APLNG, Enochdhu, CD5 and Drill Site 2S by year end.
- Exploration and appraisal activity ongoing with conventional activity in the Gulf of Mexico and Angola; unconventional activity in the Lower 48 and Canada.
ConocoPhillips explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and natural gas liquids worldwide. Its portfolio comprises shale and oil sands assets; lower-risk legacy assets in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; various international developments; and exploration prospects.
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