Exxon Mobil says its fourth-quarter earnings tumbled 23 per cent to $6.05 billion US during the final three months of 2009.
Higher oil prices helped drive revenue, but also squeezed profit margins on the refining side of the business, the world's largest publicly traded oil company reported Monday.
Profit of $6.05 billion US, or $1.27 US a share, compares with $7.82 billion, or $1.54 a share, a year earlier. Despite the decline, the results beat the $1.19 US per share that analysts were expecting.
Exxon Mobil shares ended trading Monday up $1.75, or close to three per cent, at $66.18 US on the New York Stock Exchange.
It was the fifth consecutive quarter in which Exxon posted lower profits. For the full year, Exxon Mobil Corp. earned $19.3 billion US, or $3.98 US a share.
The company increased capital spending by 21 per cent in the fourth quarter to $8.3 billion. Production of oil and gas was up two per cent compared with the same quarter a year ago earlier.
Its oil output averaged 2.39 million barrels a day. That was more or less unchanged from a year earlier as lower production from mature fields was offset by increases from projects in Qatar. Gas production in the fourth quarter averaged 10.7 billion cubic feet a day.
In December, Exxon Mobile announced its proposal for the $41-billion purchase of XTO Energy, a big player in natural gas production from shale in the United States. The proposal would be the biggest energy merger of 2009.
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