ExxonMobil earned $14.5 billion under US accounting rules (GAAP) in the second quarter of 2026, up from $7.1 billion a year earlier. Producing oil and gas (the Upstream segment) earned $7.9 billion of it, while refining crude oil into fuels (the Energy Products segment) earned $5.5 billion.
ExxonMobil (ticker XOM) is an integrated company in the oil and gas industry. This guide shows its four segments, how each one earns money, how its earnings follow the oil price and what has happened most recently.
What does ExxonMobil do? ExxonMobil is an integrated oil and gas company. It produces crude oil and natural gas. It also refines crude oil into fuels and makes chemicals and lubricants. It reports four segments: Upstream, Energy Products, Chemical Products and Specialty Products.
Upstream, the production arm, earned 66% of ExxonMobil's segment earnings (profit by segment, GAAP) in 2025 from 12% of its sales to outside customers. Energy Products, the refining arm, earned 23% from 75% of sales.
ExxonMobil estimates that, for 2026, each $1 a barrel change in the Brent price (the international oil benchmark) changes annual Upstream earnings by about $700 million after tax, before the effect of derivatives.
The latest reported quarter, the second of 2026 (reported on 31 July 2026), earned $14.5 billion (GAAP) against $7.1 billion a year earlier.
What are ExxonMobil's four segments?
ExxonMobil reports four segments. Upstream explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas. The other three, together called Product Solutions, manufacture and sell what comes from crude oil:
Upstream produces crude oil and natural gas.
Energy Products makes fuels, aromatics and catalysts. It also licenses technology.
Chemical Products makes olefins, polyolefins and intermediates, which go into most everyday plastics.
Specialty Products makes finished lubricants, basestocks, waxes, synthetics, elastomers and resins.
Segment earnings are after tax and exclude the share that belongs to minority owners of ExxonMobil subsidiaries. The 2025 figures were:
Segment | Sales to outside customers | Segment earnings (GAAP) |
|---|---|---|
Upstream | $39.4 billion | $21.4 billion |
Energy Products | $244.5 billion | $7.4 billion |
Chemical Products | $22.2 billion | $0.8 billion |
Specialty Products | $17.8 billion | $2.9 billion |
Four segments together | $323.8 billion | $32.4 billion |
Each figure is rounded once from the 10-K's $ million figures, so the rows may not add exactly to the totals. Source: ExxonMobil Form 10-K for 2025, Note 3.
After $3.6 billion of corporate and financing costs, ExxonMobil's 2025 net income was $28.8 billion (GAAP).
How ExxonMobil makes money
The biggest segment by sales is not the biggest by profit.
Source: ExxonMobil Form 10-K for 2025; YX Insights
Energy Products sold $244.5 billion to outside customers in 2025, or 75% of the four-segment total. It earned 23% of segment earnings. Selling fuel is a high-volume business with a thin margin, because the refinery pays for the crude oil it processes.
Upstream sold $39.4 billion to outside customers, 12% of the total. It also sold a further $62.4 billion to other ExxonMobil segments, which the company reports separately as intersegment revenue and the share of sales leaves out. Upstream earned 66% of segment earnings. Pumping oil and gas leaves a larger gap between revenue and cost than refining does.
Chemical Products earned 2% of segment earnings from 7% of sales. Specialty Products earned 9% from 5%. Specialty Products is a smaller business that earns more on each dollar of sales than Energy Products.
Upstream: the oil and gas production business
Upstream earned $7.9 billion (GAAP) in the second quarter of 2026, 47% more than the $5.4 billion of the second quarter of 2025.
Production in the quarter was 4.5 million oil-equivalent barrels a day (natural gas converted to its oil energy equivalent), 116 thousand fewer than a year earlier. ExxonMobil's filing attributes the fall to Middle East disruption impacts, mostly offset by growth in the Permian Basin and Guyana. The company also reports a record Permian rate of more than 1.8 million oil-equivalent barrels a day in the second quarter.
The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) breaks the $2,525 million rise into drivers.
Source: ExxonMobil Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 2026; YX Insights
Price added $4,650 million, on higher crude oil realisations (the prices the company received), partly offset by lower gas realisations. Growth in Guyana and the Permian added $1,140 million, which the filing calls advantaged volume growth. Structural cost savings added $170 million.
Five items took earnings down. Middle East volume lost $1,060 million, higher depreciation cost $690 million and base volume cost $130 million. Timing effects (derivative gains and losses booked before the physical cargo is delivered) cost $180 million and other items $170 million.
A sixth item, a $1,199 million loss from financial reserves, was also recorded. The drivers add to $2,531 million against the reported $2,525 million because the filing's figures are rounded.
Product Solutions: refining, chemicals and lubricants
Energy Products earned $5.5 billion (GAAP) in the second quarter of 2026 against $1.4 billion a year earlier. The filing credits $3,180 million of the rise to stronger refining margins. A refining margin is the price of the fuels a refinery sells minus the cost of the crude oil it buys.
Chemical Products earned $1.1 billion against $0.3 billion. Specialty Products earned $1.0 billion against $0.8 billion.
How ExxonMobil's earnings follow the oil price
ExxonMobil's 2025 annual report estimates that, for 2026, a $1 a barrel change in Brent changes annual Upstream earnings by about $700 million after tax. That covers equity companies (affiliates ExxonMobil part-owns) and leaves out the effect of derivatives. A $10 move is therefore about $7 billion a year.
The report gives a similar figure for gas. A $0.10 change in the Henry Hub price (the US natural gas benchmark) per million British thermal units changes annual Upstream earnings by about $90 million.
The chart sets the quarterly segment earnings against the average Brent price.
Source: ExxonMobil Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and earnings releases; FRED (DCOILBRENTEU); YX Insights
Brent averaged $68 a barrel in the second quarter of 2025, when Upstream earned $5.4 billion. It averaged $103 in the second quarter of 2026, when Upstream earned $7.9 billion. In between, Brent averaged $64 in the fourth quarter of 2025, when Upstream earned $3.5 billion.
The link is not exact. In the first quarter of 2026 Brent averaged $81 against $76 a year earlier, yet Upstream earned $5.7 billion against $6.8 billion. The first-quarter release credits higher depreciation and lower base volumes from divestments and disruptions in Kazakhstan.
The annual sensitivity also cannot be applied quarter by quarter. A rise of about $35 a barrel would imply about $6.0 billion for a quarter, against the $4,650 million the filing credits to price. That price driver is net of lower gas realisations, while the sensitivity is an annual rule of thumb that leaves out derivatives.
Energy Products follows refining margins and timing effects. In the first quarter of 2026 it lost $1.3 billion (GAAP), while its adjusted earnings, which exclude identified items and estimated timing effects, were $2.8 billion (non-GAAP). ExxonMobil's first-quarter release reports unfavourable estimated timing effects of $3.9 billion across the company.
Over a full year the pattern repeats. Brent averaged 14.1% less in 2025 than in 2024. Upstream earnings fell 16%, from $25.4 billion to $21.4 billion (GAAP).
Latest developments
These are the most recent events in ExxonMobil's filings. The figures update when the next quarterly report is filed.
31 July 2026, second-quarter results. Earnings were $14.5 billion (GAAP) and $14.7 billion adjusted (non-GAAP). Cash flow from operating activities was $23.6 billion (GAAP) and free cash flow was $17.2 billion (non-GAAP). Shareholder distributions were $9.4 billion, made up of $4.3 billion of dividends and $5.1 billion of share repurchases.
31 July 2026, dividend. ExxonMobil declared a third-quarter dividend of $1.03 a share, payable on 10 September 2026 to shareholders of record on 17 August 2026. It paid $4.00 a share in 2025.
31 July 2026, Guyana. The fifth Guyana floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) set sail. ExxonMobil says start-up is on plan for the fourth quarter of 2026, adding 250 thousand barrels a day of capacity.
31 July 2026, Louisiana. ExxonMobil settled all claims brought by the state of Louisiana and coastal parishes over coastal marsh erosion. The 10-Q calls the settlement not material and says its estimated earnings effects are in the second-quarter financial reserve updates across the company.
1 July 2026, move to Texas. ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation, a Texas company, became the publicly traded parent of the group. Shares were exchanged one for one and still trade as XOM on the New York Stock Exchange.
End of March 2026, Golden Pass. The Golden Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant produced its first LNG from Train 1. ExxonMobil holds 30% of the joint venture with QatarEnergy, which the 10-K lists among its Upstream equity companies. The first export cargo left in April.
For the price side, see our guide to how the oil market works.
ExxonMobil produces oil and gas, refines crude oil into fuels and makes chemicals and lubricants. Upstream earns most of the profit and follows the oil price, while Energy Products follows refining margins.
Common questions about ExxonMobil
Is ExxonMobil an oil producer or a refiner?
Both. Upstream produces crude oil and natural gas. Three Product Solutions segments turn it into fuels, chemicals and lubricants. In 2025, Upstream earned 66% of segment earnings (GAAP) from 12% of sales to outside customers. Energy Products, the refining segment, earned 23% from 75%.
How does ExxonMobil make money?
It sells oil and gas at market prices and earns refining margins on fuels. It also sells chemicals and lubricants. In 2025 the four segments earned $32.4 billion (GAAP). After $3.6 billion of corporate and financing costs, net income was $28.8 billion (GAAP).
Does ExxonMobil pay a dividend?
Yes. It paid $4.3 billion of dividends in the second quarter of 2026 and declared $1.03 a share for the third quarter, payable on 10 September 2026. Dividends paid in 2025 were $4.00 a share. A dividend is a cash payment from a company's profit to its shareholders.
How sensitive are ExxonMobil's earnings to the oil price?
The 2025 annual report estimates, for 2026, about $700 million of annual after-tax Upstream earnings for each $1 a barrel change in Brent, before the effect of derivatives. A $10 move is about $7 billion. Refining and chemicals respond to margins and timing effects instead.
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