Shale sets the pace with company results

By

 07 February 2013 23:59 GMT

The US shale drive made a deep mark on end-of-year financial figures, allowing oil companies to increase their refining margins and hitting service players that have seen a drop in drilling.

ExxonMobil saw its fourth quarter earnings beat Wall Street forecasts with a 6% increase to come in a shade under $10 billion.

This was despite a 5% slump in oil and gas production, with quarterly profits at its exploration and production business falling 12% to $7.76 billion.

However, its chemicals unit more than doubled in profitability to $958 million, while earnings from refining more than quadrupled to $1.77 billion from $425 million during the same period in 2011.

ExxonMobil is benefiting from the cheap local feedstock it can source from shale oil and oil…

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