Fourteen Per Cent Debt to CapitalNarrow moat

ExxonMobil (XOM) — moat facet

Close to unlevered on a $449 billion balance sheet, in an industry that periodically goes bankrupt.

ExxonMobil ended 2025 with $9,296 million of notes and loans payable and $34,241 million of long-term debt against $259,386 million of its share of equity: 14.0 per cent debt to capital, and 11.0 per cent after netting off cash1. Total assets were $448,980 million2.

The balance sheet, end of 2025$43.5bnof total debt$259.4bnof ExxonMobil equity14.0%debt to capital$603mof interest expensefor the yearAgainst $448,980m of total assets and $299,373m of property, plant and equipment.
Close to unlevered, in an industry that periodically goes bankrupt.

That is an unusual posture for a business with $299,373 million of property, plant and equipment3 and predictable cash generation, and it is deliberate. The oil industry's history is a list of companies that were fine at eighty dollars a barrel and gone at thirty. ExxonMobil's answer has been to carry so little debt that the question never arises, which costs it some return in good years and buys it the ability to keep spending in bad ones.

The test case is 2020. The company lost $22,440 million in a single year4 and did not cut the dividend, did not issue equity at a distressed price, and emerged able to spend $5.1 billion on Denbury in 2023 and $63 billion of stock on Pioneer in 20245. A more leveraged competitor spent those years repairing a balance sheet.

The capital structure is also cheap. ExxonMobil's interest expense was $603 million in 2025 against $996 million in 20246 — on $43.5 billion of debt, an effective cost that reflects one of the best credit ratings in corporate America. In August 2026 the company announced it would redeem three tranches of high-coupon legacy notes — 6.10 per cent due 2036, 6.75 per cent due 2037 and 6.375 per cent due 2038 — at a make-whole price7, which is what a company does when it can refinance far cheaper than the coupon it is paying.

The question the facet raises is not whether the balance sheet is strong. It is what the strength is being used for, and in 2025 the answer was distributions rather than reinvestment or acquisition.

One line settles it: net debt to capital, 4.5 per cent in 2023, 6.5 per cent in 2024, 11.0 per cent in 20258. The level is not a concern. The direction, in three consecutive years of strong prices, is the thing to watch.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Total debt was $43,537 million against $259,386 million of equity, and the company is redeeming legacy notes carrying coupons above six per cent because it can refinance far cheaper. The absolute position is as strong as it has ever been; the direction of net debt is the only thing worth watching.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Debt to capital
14.0%

On a $448,980 million balance sheet carrying $299,373 million of property, plant and equipment. Interest expense was $603 million on $43.5 billion of debt, and the company is redeeming legacy notes with coupons above six per cent. The strength is not in question; what it is being used for is.

Source: Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K, fiscal year 2025 ↗
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
The Cash Pile Fell Fifty-Four Per Cent in One Year
Cash fell fifty-four per cent in a year the company generated fifty-two billion dollars from operations.
References
  1. ReportedExxonMobil ended 2025 with $9,296 million of notes and loans payable and $34,241 million of long-term debt against $259,386 million of its share of equity: 14.0 per cent debt to capital, and 11.0 per cent after netting off cash.
    Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K for FY2025, consolidated financial statements — statement of income, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and statement of changes in equity including the common stock share activity table. — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedTotal assets were $448,980 million.
    Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K for FY2025, consolidated financial statements — statement of income, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and statement of changes in equity including the common stock share activity table. — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThat is an unusual posture for a business with $299,373 million of property, plant and equipment and predictable cash generation, and it is deliberate.
    Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K for FY2025, consolidated financial statements — statement of income, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and statement of changes in equity including the common stock share activity table. — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedThe company lost $22,440 million in a single year and did not cut the dividend, did not issue equity at a distressed price, and emerged able to spend $5.1 billion on Denbury in 2023 and $63 billion of stock on Pioneer in 2024.
    Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K for FY2020, consolidated statement of income — sales and other operating revenue and net income attributable to ExxonMobil for 2020, 2019 and 2018, including the $22,440 million loss recorded in 2020. — FY2018-FY2020 · publ. February 2021 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe company lost $22,440 million in a single year and did not cut the dividend, did not issue equity at a distressed price, and emerged able to spend $5.1 billion on Denbury in 2023 and $63 billion of stock on Pioneer in 2024.
    Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K for FY2025, notes to the consolidated financial statements — Note 3 Disclosures about Segments and Related Information (segment revenue, intersegment revenue, segment income, additions to property plant and equipment, total assets, geographic revenue and the revenue-from-contracts disaggregation), Note 7 Litigation and Other Contingencies, and Note 20 Mergers and Acquisitions covering Pioneer Natural Resources and Denbury. — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedExxonMobil's interest expense was $603 million in 2025 against $996 million in 2024 — on $43.5 billion of debt, an effective cost that reflects one of the best credit ratings in corporate America.
    Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K for FY2025, consolidated financial statements — statement of income, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and statement of changes in equity including the common stock share activity table. — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedIn August 2026 the company announced it would redeem three tranches of high-coupon legacy notes — 6.10 per cent due 2036, 6.75 per cent due 2037 and 6.375 per cent due 2038 — at a make-whole price, which is what a company does when it can refinance far cheaper than the coupon it is paying.
    ExxonMobil Holdings Corporation Form 8-K of 28 August 2026 — notices of redemption for the 6.10% Senior Notes due 2036, the 6.75% Senior Notes due 2037 and the 6.375% Senior Notes due 2038, to be repurchased at par plus a make-whole amount on 27 September 2026. — August 2026 · publ. 28 August 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedOne line settles it: net debt to capital, 4.5 per cent in 2023, 6.5 per cent in 2024, 11.0 per cent in 2025.
    Exxon Mobil Corporation Form 10-K for FY2025, Financial Information summary — sales and other operating revenue, net income, earnings per share, return to average equity, working capital, additions to property plant and equipment, long-term and total debt, debt and net debt to capital, equity per share, research and development, and the number of regular employees. — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026