ExxonMobil indicated that it is set to deliver another strong profit for its fourth quarter. The company expects its operating profit to hit $15.4 billion, which should push 2022 full-year profits to around $58 billion.

Despite a bumper year, ExxonMobil signaled slightly weaker profits in the fourth quarter. ExxonMobil  expects declining oil and gas prices to lower earnings of its production business. The oil major expects its upstream business to lower earnings by $3.3-$4.1 billion in the fourth quarter, sequentially, as crude prices fell.

The decline in natural gas prices is likely to have negatively impacted the upstream business’s profits by $2-$2.4 billion, while lower crude oil prices accounted for $1.3-$1.7 billion. The losses were offset by $1.3-$1.5 billion in upstream mark-to-market derivative gains.

ExxonMobil stated that the rising refining margins could result in $100 million of sequential improvement/decline in earnings in the fourth quarter. The value of unsettled derivatives may have been negatively impacted by $0.9-$1.1 billion.

The margins in the company’s chemical units are expected to have been negatively impacted by $400-$600 million in the fourth quarter. ExxonMobil indicated impairments of $500 million as it divests unwanted assets to focus on more profitable projects.