Darren Woods, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, expressed confidence in the health of the economy, even as lower oil prices dragged the company’s profit in the second quarter to its lowest level in years.
“There’s not any area of the business where we’re really seeing demand drop off, which usually is reflective of the underlying economic activity around the world,” Mr. Woods told reporters on Thursday, shortly before President Trump announced plans to raise tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners.
U.S. oil and gas companies have been caught in the middle of Mr. Trump’s trade policies. Higher tariffs have weighed on oil prices, hurting producers, but Mr. Trump has also been urging trading partners to buy more American energy products.
Asked if he was seeing any changes in demand that were attributable to the president’s trade negotiations, Mr. Woods said he did not “see significant changes in one region offsetting or changing the global balance.”
Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, said on Friday that its second-quarter earnings had slid 23 percent, to $7.1 billion, roughly in line with the year-over-year decline in U.S. oil prices.
Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, reported second-quarter profit of $2.5 billion, down 44 percent from the previous year.
Both companies’ share prices climbed in premarket trading, Exxon gaining more than 1 percent, Chevron rising by a bit less.
Eimear Bonner, Chevron’s chief financial officer, said the company was bracing for oil prices to fall further this year as global oil demand grew more slowly and supply rose. She described higher tariffs as having “limited” impact on the company.
“We’re not forecasting that tariffs will have a real impact on our business,” Ms. Bonner said.
Rebecca F. Elliott covers energy for The Times with a focus on how the industry is changing in the push to curb climate-warming emissions.
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