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Exxon profit beats expectations on refining, output


    (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp reported a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as oil and gas output and refining results grew even as lower crude prices ate into earnings at the world's largest publicly traded oil company.

    "It was a strong quarter," said Brian Youngberg, analyst at Edward Jones in Saint Louis. "Their diversified model tends to hold up better in a weaker oil market and that is seen in this quarter."

    Shares of Exxon jumped nearly 2 percent to $89.36 in premarket trading.

    A glut in global oil supplies amid waning demand has caused a nearly 50 percent decline in crude prices since June. Lower oil prices also mean that feedstock for refiners is cheaper.

    The Irving, Texas company earned a first-quarter profit of $4.9 billion, or $1.17 per share, down 46 percent from $9.1 billion, or $2.10 per share, a year earlier.

    Still, that was better than analysts' expectations of a profit of 83 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

    Oil and natural gas output was 4.2 million barrels oil equivalent per day (boed), up 2 percent from a year earlier.

    Exxon's refining business had a profit of $1.7 billion in the first quarter, up $854 million from the same period a year earlier, boosted by its international operations.

    (Reporting by Anna Driver; Editing by Alden Bentley and Bernadette Baum)