NEW YORK – U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (IW 500/1) reported slightly higher third-quarter earnings on Friday as better results in refining and chemicals offset lower profits from exploration and production.
The largest U.S. publicly traded oil company, Exxon reported net income of $8.1 billion, up 2.5% from the same period a year ago.
Earnings from the upstream division, which finds and produces oil and gas, fell $297 million to $6.4 billion as oil-equivalent production dropped 4.7% from last year.
The results also reflected lower oil prices compared with a year ago.
However, lower crude prices helped Exxon's refining business, which purchases crude and processes it into gasoline and other petroleum products. Refining profits rose 73% to $1.0 billion.
Chemical profits increased 17% to $1.2 billion.
Friday's results "demonstrate the strength of our integrated business model," said CEO Rex Tillerson.
"Integration across upstream, downstream and chemical gives us competitive advantages in scale, efficiency, technical and commercial capabilities, regardless of market fluctuations over the business cycle."
The earnings translated into $1.89 per share, better than the $1.73 forecast by Wall Street analysts.
Revenues fell 4.3% to $107.49 billion, compared with the $105.51 billion projected by analysts.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
