NEW YORK, Jan 7, 2026, 11:38 EST — Regular session
Exxon Mobil Corporation shares fell on Wednesday as oil prices slid and traders weighed fresh signals on Venezuelan supply. The stock was down $1.34, or 1.1%, at $119.71, after touching an intraday low of $118.96. Chevron was little changed while ConocoPhillips fell about 1%.
The drop tracked crude after U.S. President Donald Trump said Venezuela would “turn over” between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States. Brent was down about 0.7% near $60 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was off about 1.3% at $56.39, even after a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude inventories. “The volumes are quite small in a larger context,” SEB commodities analyst Ole Hvalbye said. 1
The Venezuelan story has been the main driver for oil shares this week, pushing crude around and reshaping talk about supply. Exxon gained about 1% on Monday after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, then slid 3.4% on Tuesday as oil stocks gave back those gains. With Friday’s U.S. jobs report looming, traders have been quick to cut risk in sectors tied to commodity demand. 2
Exxon also has a company-specific marker later Wednesday. Its investor relations site flagged a fourth-quarter “earnings considerations” 8-K after market hours — a current report used to disclose updates to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors often watch those filings for early clues on how oil prices and refining margins filtered into results. 3
Washington is keeping the pressure on. Trump will meet with oil company executives late this week to discuss ways to revive Venezuela’s battered oil sector, Reuters reported, and two sources said the meeting was likely on Friday. “It’s hard to imagine increases beyond 300,000 to 400,000 barrels a day in the next year,” Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said. 4
For Exxon, Venezuela is not a quick lever. The company no longer has a presence in the country and has been pursuing compensation tied to expropriated projects; in 2023 Exxon said Venezuela owed it $984.5 million, and a U.S. court recognized the obligation in September 2025, Reuters reported. 5
But the bigger risk for the stock sits in the oil balance, not the headlines. “It is premature to evaluate the impact of Nicolas Maduro’s capture on the oil balance,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil, while arguing supply looked sufficient for 2026. Morgan Stanley has estimated the market could be in surplus by as much as 3 million barrels per day in the first half of 2026, and Rystad Energy’s Janiv Shah put near-term incremental Venezuelan supply at about 300,000 barrels per day within two to three years on limited spending. 6
Next up: Exxon’s after-hours 8-K on Wednesday and any fresh detail on how Washington would handle sanctions and investment terms. On Friday, investors get the U.S. Employment Situation report for December at 8:30 a.m. ET, a release that can swing the dollar, crude and rate bets in one hit. 7
