ExxonMobil's Structural Cost Savings Drive Market Leadership

Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM has set the industry standard for aggressive, long-term structural cost discipline, cementing its competitive edge as the energy landscape undergoes rapid change. In the second quarter of 2025, XOM confirmed cumulative structural cost savings of $13.5 billion since 2019, with clear execution on operational efficiencies, workforce streamlining, and digital transformation. The company is now targeting $18 billion in total structural savings by 2030. This relentless focus allows ExxonMobil to sustain high levels of investment, deliver robust shareholder distributions, and remain resilient — even amid periods of lower commodity prices.

BP & TTE Accelerate Cost Reductions Too

Like XOM, BP plc BP and TotalEnergies TTE are doubling down on multi-year cost transformation strategies.

Cost reductions are a pillar of BP’s turnaround. As of the first half of 2025, BP delivered $0.9 billion in fresh structural cost savings, bringing its cumulative total since 2023 to $1.7 billion. The company is on pace to reach its target of $4-$5 billion cuts by 2027-end. BP’s second-quarter report emphasized a tighter grip on spending, a holistic review of the business, and digitally driven process efficiencies — all strategic levers to improve profitability and strengthen investor confidence. 

TotalEnergies' latest results highlighted ongoing “strict cost discipline” and recurring operational improvements across all business segments. Even as benchmark oil prices dropped 10%, TTE managed to keep cash flow nearly steady, attributing this to efficiency measures, supply-chain optimization and asset replacement strategies. TTE does not disclose a cumulative cost-out figure, but persistent quarterly cost controls are credited with supporting earnings resilience and funding growth.

XOM’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of XOM have declined 4.6% over the past year against 1.8% decline of the industry.

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From a valuation standpoint, XOM trades at a trailing 12-month enterprise value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) of 7.24X. This is above the broader industry average of 4.35X.

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for XOM’s 2025 earnings has been revised upward over the past 30 days.

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ExxonMobil stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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