Exxon Mobil chairman and CEO Darren Woods joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the company's quarterly earnings results, navigating market turbulence, state of the energy industry, oil price trends, production levels, and more.

Exxon Mobil's chairman and CEO, Darren Woods, addressed the company's quarterly earnings and industry dynamics in an interview with CNBC's 'Squawk Box.' Despite the broader trend of oil majors experiencing a decline in earnings due to falling oil prices, Exxon Mobil managed to perform better than expected. Woods cited the strength and resilience of the company's business model and strategy as crucial factors in navigating the current market turbulence. 

Oil prices have experienced fluctuations, impacted by factors like increased supply and concerns over global economic growth. Woods noted that while demand was robust in the first quarter, an oversupply in the market led to price pressures. Additionally, speculation about international economic challenges and OPEC's potential production increases has added to the market's volatility. 

Despite current price challenges, Woods emphasized that Exxon Mobil is well-positioned to withstand market uncertainties. The company's focus remains on maximizing net present value and maintaining its strategy, even in a low-price environment. This resilience is supported by the firm's balance sheet strength, earnings power, and cash flow. 

Another industry dynamic discussed was the relationship between crude oil prices and gasoline prices. While gasoline prices have not dropped significantly, Woods explained that this is due to refining capacity and its influence on supply-demand balances, not just crude oil prices. Refinery maintenance and operational reliability can affect petroleum product availability, influencing gasoline prices independently of crude oil costs.



Exxon Mobil CEO: We're prepared to handle market turbulence

ExxonMobil earnings beating expectations, beating those estimates. We saw that earlier this morning. The stock has been higher in the trade session this morning, up by about half a percent right now. Joining us in a CNBC exclusive is ExxonMobil's chairman and CEO, Darren Woods. Darren, good morning. Thank you for being with us this morning. Your numbers were better than the street was expecting. But some of the headlines when you read through the news services is just talking about how earnings were down, not just for you, but for all of the oil majors, just because of where oil prices have come. How would you describe the environment right now? Well, the first quarter was definitely down versus what we saw in the first quarter of last year. It makes results versus the fourth quarter of last year. And so a kind of a choppy market, a mixed set of results for our different businesses. But I think importantly, what the results that we delivered in the first quarter demonstrate is the strength of the business model that we have, the strategy that we're executing and all the transformational change that we've made and are continuing to make it delivered, I think, very solid results for the quarter. But much more importantly, it sets the company up for handling all the uncertainty and the volatility that that we're seeing today and that we anticipate, frankly, as we move through the years going forward. So we've built a company that basically is prepared and ready to handle the kind of turbulence that we're seeing in the markets today. What makes you think that the turbulence is going to continue through the rest of this year? We're watching WTI. I think it's just below sixty dollars a barrel this morning. Well, the turbulence I'm speaking about is the inherent turbulence associated with our industry and the energy industry and the fact that it is plays such a pivotal role in economies all around the world. And so what you tend to see over time is a lot of volatility. We've all seen the ups and downs of our industry. From our perspective, we're building a business that does very, very well in the bottom of the trough. And then obviously, when you're at the top of the trough, things look a lot better. But everything that we're doing is focused on growing value and making sure that we have a business and a strategy that's robust to every piece of the cycle of the commodity cycle, not just the tops of the market. So why do you think prices have been under so much pressure this this last month or even a couple of months? If you're watching some of these things, is it concerns about a global slowdown? Is it concerns about more production coming online or maybe OPEC pumping more, too? Yeah, I think I think both of those things are playing into it. If you look at the first quarter, demand was very, very strong. There was a lot of supply in the market, which depressed prices when this imbalance between demand and supply. As we've gone and headed into the second quarter, you know, all the uncertainty that's out there today, the questions around how the tariffs are going to impact economic growth around the world is leading to a lot of speculation and uncertainty around where demand goes. That then puts concerns and pressure on the demand side of the equation. And of course, OPEC has talked about increasing supply. And so when you have lower demand and higher supply, you're going to get a drop in prices. A lot of that's forecasted or comprehending what people participate or expect to happen. We'll see how it actually plays out. I know it's not as easy as, you know, turning on a spigot or turning it off, but when prices come down, what what what do you do just in terms of production? What can we expect to see from you all? So we've seen a very substantial change in the industry's ability to ramp production down with the unconventional resource. So that resource is much more short cycle. And so depending on the pricing and the economics for every individual player, they'll make their decisions about what they choose to do and can take production off much faster today than maybe what you have seen historically with long cycle projects. For our company, the business that we've built, frankly, prices can go low and stay low for quite some time. And it won't necessitate a change in what we're doing with our distributions to shareholders or to the capital plans that we have in the investments that we're making. What we'll be focused on instead is maximizing NPV and the economics of what we're doing. So with the ability to adjust and the short cycle investments, those will all be made on economic decisions about where prices are at today and what we think is going to happen in the future and how do we maximize the value of that? But the good news is with the balance sheet that we have, with the earnings power that we have, with the cash that we're generating, we could stay right where we're at and continue with the strategy that we've had in place and the plans that we shared with our investors in December through this year and into next year, even at very low prices. I think Joe has a question to Joe. Thanks. It's been pointed out, Darren, and thanks for coming on. It's been pointed out that, you know, oil's come down quite a bit and I don't know whether it's it's supply. I think it's a combination of both, obviously. But but gasoline prices, even though I don't think gasoline prices were ever under two dollars in any state, I don't think anyone's found that. Maybe there's one guest. I don't know. I don't know where the president got that. But they've come down a little, but not as much as they should. Can can you explain that? And I guess usually when we ask someone that they go back to the local markets and refiners and, you know, you can't really explain what any given gas station is is looking at when it sets prices. Well, I think there's two supply demand balances look at and you point out crude, which is, you know, the the largest cost that goes into a barrel of gasoline or a gallon of gasoline. And as that drops off, you'd expect to see some downward pressure. The other supply and demand balance, though, is the refining capacity that's available to meet the demand for gasoline. So crude is the feedstock to refineries that then make petroleum products. And depending on how much capacity is available to run the crude, you get different supply demand balances. So what I would say in refining as refineries around the world, either going to turnarounds to do maintenance, if you've got reliability issues, you can see a lot of choppiness in the supply of petroleum products just based on how well refineries, frankly, around the world are running. And what we see as prices demand picks up that that puts upward pressure on prices. But if refineries have trouble or in maintenance, you'll see the supply drop off and prices rise. And I think we're seeing what you're seeing in the markets today is that balance of refining capacity to meet the demand that's out there.

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