The road to Exxon's repurchase is paved with billions in real estate sales

Exxon is assessing its global sales opportunities portfolio and will trim assets that do not fit the strategic priorities, Woods says. The company will also look for tactical opportunities to relieve assets at good value, he added.

But it is still unclear when the disposals will allow room to share buybacks, and some investors seem impatient. Exxon saw today's course on Wednesday, despite the company providing improved earnings and cash flow guidance during the annual investor day.

Analysts say one reason for withdrawal is disappointment that Exxon did not launch a buy-back program, peers have begun to enrich investors by again buying back shares.

"Exxon has been the only superpower in recent quarters without an active buy-back program," says Raymond James equity analyst Pavel Molchanov.

"Interestingly, ten years ago, this company had the largest repurchase amounts throughout the S & P 500 . "[1[ads1]9659002] Exxon spent about $ 210 billion on stock purchases over a decade before the termination of repurchase three years ago, except to compensate for dilution. Now, Exxon has fallen behind its peers like Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and BP. who have all started their buyback programs after punishing the oil price in 2014-2016.