Bogdan Tudorache

Exxon Mobil Corp’s plan to accelerate asset sales, a way of delivering needed cash to finance shareholder returns and major projects, is getting off to a slow start as oil companies pull back on big deals. On Friday, the largest U.S. oil company is expected to report a 79-cents-a-share profit, down from 92 cents a year earlier, according to data provider Refinitiv. With little cash from asset sales and a third straight quarter of weaker year-over-year earnings, Exxon cannot resume share buybacks sought by investors this year, said analysts, according to Reuters.

Chief Executive Darren Woods this year set a target of raising $15 billion by trimming its portfolio through 2021, above the average $3.3 billion a year rate between 2017 and 2013. The sales could include more oil-producing properties, compared with prior deals mostly in refining and marketing, he said. Recently, sources said Exxon may exit also the Romanian offshore project Neptun Deep, a fact neither denied, nor confirmed by the company.

But those goals are proving difficult. In its first quarter, proceeds from sales were just $107 million, the lowest in at least 11 quarters, and analysts expect the second quarter to come in at a similar level. Exxon last quarter agreed to sell a U.S. Gulf of Mexico property for $200 million, a sum considered small by analysts.