Profit

With a plethora of natural gas and oil prospects lined up for development through the 2020s, Royal Dutch Shell plc is keeping a relentless focus on improving efficiencies to stay above the fray if commodity prices were to sink again, CEO Ben van Beurden said Thursday.

Royal Dutch Shell plc’s second quarter profits plunged from a year ago to their lowest level in 11 years, slammed by lower commodity prices, weak refining margins and stumbling production. And the outlook for liquefied natural gas (LNG), considered a primary motivation to merge with BG Group plc, is so poor that the Lake Charles, LA export project has been tabled — the second North American project canned this month.

With the smallest annual profits in 13 years, ExxonMobil Corp. is reducing its capital spending by 25% to a 10-year low and suspending its share buybacks as a shield in the declining oil and natural gas trade, the largest U.S. operator said Tuesday.

ExxonMobil Corp., the largest natural gas producer in the United States, saw its overall upstream profits slip by almost half year/year during the third quarter, but the super major is capturing significant drilling efficiencies and lower service costs, which have reduced capital costs year/year by close to $8 billion.

BP plc on Tuesday posted a 19% decline in third quarter profits from a year ago, in part impacted by the global oversupply in crude oil, and in part on a huge drop in profits from its near-20% stake in Russia’s OAO Rosneft, but the producer still beat Wall Street consensus by a wide margin.

BP plc on Tuesday reported a 65% increase year/year in profits in 2Q2014 on clear signs of recovery in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). However, Group CEO Bob Dudley warned that Russian investments are growing more risky on escalating economic sanctions.

Apache Corp., which has been streamlining its North American operations to concentrate on building output from the Permian and Anadarko basins, reported a huge jump in production, and profits, during the second quarter.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has been on a tumultuous trip both financially and management-wise over the past year, recorded a profit in 4Q2012, albeit lower than a year ago, but price-related revisions — nearly all related to onshore natural gas assets in the Barnett and Haynesville shales — led to losses for the year.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has been on a tumultuous trip both financially and management-wise over the past year, recorded a profit in 4Q2012, albeit lower than a year ago, but price-related revisions — nearly all related to onshore natural gas assets in the Barnett and Haynesville shales — led to losses for the year.