ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. plans to invest more than $100 billion over the next few years to help augment global energy supplies, Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods told CNBC after the supermajor posted blockbuster quarterly results.
In a move that may serve to get ahead of any potential criticism about war-driven windfall profits, Woods urged would-be critics to keep the bigger picture in mind. His remarks came in response to a CNBC anchor’s question about how US President Donald Trump and others may react to huge profit-taking amid record diesel prices.
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“The reason prices are high today is because there’s not enough supply,” Woods said during the interview Friday. “The last thing you want to do is discourage more supply.”
Fighting in the Middle East and Ukrainian strikes in Russia have sidelined about 10% of the world’s fuel-making capacity, handing enormous profits to plants that remain operational. ExxonMobil’s refining division earned a record $9.05 billion during the third quarter, almost five times higher than a year earlier.
Penalizing companies with something like a windfall-profit tax would bring uncertainty for future investments, Woods said. He added that ExxonMobil plans to invest $100 billion between 2027 and 2030 across all of its businesses globally, with about 10% of that going toward refining.
The industry must continue to invest to ensure there’s adequate fuel-making capacity, Woods said.
“That’s what we’ve been doing, that’s why we’re as big as we are, and that’s why we’re making the money that we make,” he added.
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