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Exxon Posts Best Reserve Replacement in Decade on Price Gain

Exxon Boosts Reserves as Higher Oil Price, Permian Offsets Gas

(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. replaced three times its annual production in 2018, the best performance in at least a decade, continuing a bounce back from the deepest reserve cut in its modern history in 2016.

Key additions from the Permian Basin and Canadian oil sands, lifted by higher oil prices, offset a major subtraction from the slow closure of Europe’s biggest gas field in the Netherlands, Irving, Texas-based Exxon said Tuesday in a statement.

Exxon was forced to slash its reserves in 2016 as a result of the oil-price crash over the previous year. But the oil giant has since boosted its estimate of in-the-ground oil that’s profitable to produce due to discoveries in Guyana, acquisitions in Brazil and technological developments in U.S. shale.

Key Takeaways

  • Exxon added 4.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, bringing its total to 24.3 billion barrels, the oil major said in statement on Tuesday.
  • Some 3.6 billion barrels were added as a result of higher prices, including reserves at the Kearl oil sands asset in Canada.
  • Additions from the Permian and other shale plays added 1.2 billion barrels.
  • Exxon has been struggling to arrest production declines over the past two years after a series of strategic mistakes over the past decade.

Market Reaction

  • Exxon pared gains and was up 0.2 percent at $78.66 at close of trading in New York after earlier trading 0.8 percent higher.

Get More

  • Read Exxon’s release here.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Crowley in Houston at kcrowley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Christine Buurma, Carlos Caminada

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