Exxon, Chevron Beat Profit Estimates on War-Driven Oil Rally

By Kevin Crowley (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. posted stronger-than-expected earnings for the first quarter as higher oil and natural gas prices outweighed production outages from the Iran war.

Surging energy prices boosted Exxon’s first-quarter earnings by $1.7 billion, more than offsetting a $400 million blow from war-related production outages, the company said Friday. Roughly 15% of Exxon’s worldwide output remains offline, Chief Financial Officer Neil Hansen said in an interview.

Although Chevron is less exposed to Middle East disruptions, production dipped roughly 5% on a sequential basis. Even so, its per-share