Exxon Mobil 1st-quarter profits climb 17%

HOUSTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday that record crude prices helped its first-quarter profit climb 17 percent to $10.9 billion — the second-biggest U.S. quarterly corporate profit ever.

But the results still fell short of Wall Street’s lofty forecasts, and Exxon Mobil shares fell nearly 4 percent.

The company’s refining operations limited its overall earnings growth, because prices for crude oil rose even faster than the increase drivers see at the gasoline pump.

Lower production to start the year hurt too.

Exxon Mobil, based in Irving, Texas, said earnings for the first three months of the year came to $2.03 per share, up from $9.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for $2.13 per share.

But at $10.9 billion, the profit still ranks as the second-biggest for a U.S. company — the only larger result in a three-month period was the $11.7 billion Exxon Mobil posted in the final three months of 2007.

Revenue rose to $116.8 billion from $87.2 billion a year earlier. Analysts were looking for revenue of about $124 billion.

Exxon Mobil shares fell $3.37, or 3.6 percent, to $89.70.

The company said earnings at its exploration and production, or upstream, business rose 45 percent to $8.8 billion, lifted by higher oil and natural gas prices. Increased natural gas production was more than offset by lower crude volumes.

Overall production fell 5.6 percent from a year ago, in part from natural field declines and maintenance.

On the refining and marketing side, earnings were off 39 percent from a year ago to nearly $1.2 billion.