Exxon, Chevron lose billions on price war, virus
Quarterly results are out for two of the America's biggest energy companies and wow are the numbers grim.
ExxonMobil reported a second-quarter loss of $1.1 billion on Friday - marking the oil giant's first back-to-back money-losing quarter in at least 36 years.
It was always going to be a tough quarter after a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia in March sent oil prices crashing… throw in stay-at-home orders around the globe that grounded driving to a halt – freezing gasoline demand and you have the makings of a catastrophe for a major oil company like ExxonMobil.
The oil giant said it has no other choice but to review operations and promised significant cost cuts.
Quarterly results were even worse at Chevron, which lost $8.3 billion last quarter.
Not only did it get slammed by the price war and the economic shutdown like all of its peers, it also had to take a write-down for expenses tied to letting go up to 6700 employees, as well as its forced exit from Venezuela. It had been the last U.S. company with operations there but the Trump administration ordered it to stop doing business by the end of the year amid U.S. sanctions designed to oust the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
With global economies running deep in the red and only gradual recoveries expected - a near-term rebound in business is unlikely for either Chevron or Exxon.
