HOUSTON (Realist English). ExxonMobil Corp. has once again surpassed Wall Street expectations, posting stronger-than-expected third-quarter results on the back of record output from its new oil project in Guyana.
The U.S. energy major reported adjusted earnings of $1.88 per share, exceeding Bloomberg’s analyst forecast by seven cents, marking its sixth consecutive quarter of outperformance. Exxon also announced its 43rd consecutive annual dividend increase, reinforcing its reputation for steady shareholder returns.
Despite falling oil prices and concerns over a looming global surplus driven by rising OPEC+ production, Exxon is accelerating its expansion strategy. The company has launched eight of its ten planned projects for the year, with the remaining two “on track,” according to CEO Darren Woods.
Woods said Exxon’s strong balance sheet and low debt enable it to finance major developments — from crude oil operations in Brazil to petrochemical ventures in China — while maintaining a $20 billion annual share buyback program. He emphasized that Exxon is positioning itself to capitalize on a potential market rebound in 2026.
A key contributor to this quarter’s performance was the start-up of the Yellowtail field in Guyana, a 250,000-barrel-per-day project — the country’s largest to date. Exxon also spent $2.4 billion on growth acquisitions, including new acreage in the Permian Basin, where production hit a record 1.7 million barrels per day.
Following years of stagnation, Exxon’s production is rising again. Analysts expect oil and gas output to grow by around 5% in 2026, driven primarily by Guyana, where the company discovered massive reserves in 2015. Exxon plans to add three more floating production vessels there by 2029, raising Guyana’s total capacity to nearly 1.5 million barrels per day — comparable to Nigeria’s current output.
The company is also expanding refining operations in Singapore, Rotterdam, and the UK, and recently signed new exploration deals with Iraq and Trinidad and Tobago.
Woods’s aggressive growth push contrasts with an oversupplied global market, but he argues that Exxon’s new projects are among the lowest-cost in the industry, breaking even at oil prices below $35 per barrel.
“We delivered the highest earnings per share ever achieved in this kind of oil-price environment,” Woods said. “No one else in our industry is executing at this scale, with this level of innovation, or delivering this kind of value.”
