As profits fall, majors paint sluggish outlook.Byline: LONDON: ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell Royal Dutch Shell plc is a multinational oil company of British and Dutch origins. It is one of the largest private sector energy corporations in the world, and one of the six "supermajors" (vertically integrated private sector oil exploration, natural gas, and petroleum product and Eni dashed hopes for an imminent turnaround for the oil industry, saying sluggish economic recovery was weighing on energy demand and prices. The three posted big drops in quarterly earnings after crude oil and natural gas prices plummeted and refining refining, any of various processes for separating impurities from crude or semifinished materials. It includes the finer processes of metallurgy, the fractional distillation of petroleum into its commercial products, and the purifying of cane, beet, and maple sugar margins were squeezed. Exxon, the world's largest oil company by market value, said net income fell a slightly-larger-than-expected 68 per cent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2008, to $4.73 billion. Shell, Europe's largest oil company, said it was cutting 5,000 jobs after net profit dropped 73 per cent in the quarter to $2.99 billion. Italy's Eni said it was cutting its production forecast for the year due to lower gas demand and project deferrals aimed at saving cash. It unveiled a 58 per cent drop in net profit. The results and pessimistic pes·si·mism n. 1. A tendency to stress the negative or unfavorable or to take the gloomiest possible view: "We have seen too much defeatism, too much pessimism, too much of a negative approach" outlook contrasted with London-based BP's third-quarter earnings, which, though lower, smashed forecasts by 50 per cent, lifting sector shares on hopes the industry would weather the economic slump Slump A temporary fall in performance, often describing consistently falling security prices for several weeks or months. better than expected. Shell and Eni's cautious comments echo worries in recent days about the fragility of the economic recovery, after weak US new home sales New Home Sales An economic indicator that measures sales of newly built homes. Released by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Census Bureau, it includes both quantity and price statistics. data which also weighed on crude prices. "We see some indications that energy demand and pricing are improving, but the outlook remains very uncertain and we are not expecting a quick recovery," Shell chief executive Peter Voser said in a statement. Analysts at Citigroup said Shell's results painted a disappointing picture and that Eni's comments would boost worries about its ability to increase production. And Exxon told investors it expects to cut its 2009 budget. The US oil major initially forecast 2009 spending of $29 billion. But now, citing project delays and cost savings, it sees a budget of about $26 billion, a possible outcome of the uncertain market. "They (Exxon) are investing in a downturn, which is good," Tina Vital, energy equity analyst at Standard and Poor's, said. "The reduction is probably just due to the market conditions. It's still an enormous amount of money." Copyright 2008 www.tradearabia.com Copyright 2009 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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