How Much Will Exxon Benefit From Trump's Tax Cut? Irving-based Oil Giant to Gain Billions

The world's largest publicly-traded oil and gas company, Exxon Mobil, made $5.9 billion from Congress' recent vote to slash the corporate tax rate.Corporations were the biggest beneficiaries of the $1.5 trillion tax deal passed in December as their tax rates were slashed from 35 percent to 21 percent. As one of the largest companies, Exxon Mobil was expected to have one of the biggest windfalls.Although that was good news for the company's bottom line, investors looked at other parts of Friday's earnings report and sneered. The company missed earnings and production forecasts, sending stock prices down 5 percent initially.A Bloomberg story described earnings from Exxon and competitor Chevron as "woefully off the pace.""Chevron was close on production but Exxon was a significant miss," Brian Youngberg, an analyst with Edward Jones told Bloomberg. "The company continues to be challenged on that side."Exxon is trying to correct that production shortfall with Permian Basin oil. CEO Darren Woods announced earlier this week that the company planned to spend $50 billion over the next five years to expand business in the U.S. That includes a goal of tripling production in the Permian Basin by 2025.Woods credited the tax cuts for that planned increase in spending. That loosening of the wallet returns Exxon to its typical spending from 2012-2016, before oil prices plunged. The prices have returned to about $65 a barrel and are at a multi-year high.  Continue reading...