It's a tale of haves and have-nots for the first quarter 2014 for the oil majors.
There was good news for ConocoPhillips with the US giant reporting a 29% boost in adjusted earnings from $1.8bn in the first quarter 2013 to $2.3bn in the same period of 2014. The company benefitted from higher than average natural gas and bitumen prices from its US fields.
Conoco's downstream spin-off, Phillips 66, also had a positive start to 2014 with earnings of $1.6bn up from $1.4bn a year ago, although revenue dipped to slightly to $41bn against the previous year. Good performances from the company's midstream and chemicals businesses offset some planned down-time from a number of its refining plants.
Meanwhile, leading independent, Fuchs, was an encouraging start to the year with profits after tax rising to €52.8m ($72.4m) from €51.6m ($71m). The upward trend includes an increase in earnings before interest (EBIT) of around €2.2m ($3m) and sales revenues up by 3.3% in the quarter.
BP has reported underlying replacement cost profits of $3.2bn for Q1, down from $4.2bn in the same period last year, but a $400m improvement on Q4 of 2013. The company has so far agreed divestments of over $3bn as part of $10bn in sales over and above its original divestment strategy. The latest round is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
Shell also saw a significant drop in first quarter earnings (CCS) - down to $4.5bn in this first quarter almost half of its 2013 figures of $8bn. According to the company, the downturn in earnings reflected impairments related to refineries in Asia and Europe with plans to close unviable plants imminent.
French state-owned major Total announed a 10% fall in net income at $3.3bn against 2013 Q1 figures of $3.7bn, continuing a depressed sales trend from the end of last year. However, the company declared the results "solid" against a background of a sharp drop in European refining margins, with the company putting performance improvement plans in place to soften the impact.
Also reporting a downturn was Chevron with earnings of $4.5bn for the first quarter 2014, compared with $6.2bn year-on-year. Sales and other operating revenues in the first quarter 2014 were $51bn, compared to $54bn in 2013 largely blamed on crude margins and volumes.