Javier Blas, Columnist

Exxon Has Way Too Much Cash Right Now

It’s a nice problem to have. Maybe it should buy something in the Permian.

April 28, 2023 at 11:17 AM UTC

Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. He is coauthor of “The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources.”

Cash rich.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Exxon Mobil Corp. has a nice problem to have — lots of cash. After enjoying its most profitable start of the year ever, it finished the first quarter with $32.7 billion in the bank. Put aside four quarters between late 2007 and early 2008, when oil prices zoomed to a record high of $150 a barrel, and that’s the most cash it’s ever sat on.

If this sounds like the kind of riches in “All the Money in the World,” the movie depicting the fortunes of late oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, it’s because Exxon is now a cash machine.