Exxon Mobil posts Q3 profit of $9.57 billion

Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest energy company by market value, has reported a net income that beat the most generous estimate of analysts thanks to the energy giant's US refineries muting the impact of lower oil output and prices.

Third-quarter profit stood at $9.57 billion, or $2.09 a share, down 7.1 per cent from $10.3 billion, or $2.13, a year earlier, Irving, Texas-based Exxon said in a statement today.

Exxon's profit from refining oil at US plants shot 78 per cent to $1.4 billion, even as the benchmark margin based on New York futures contracts fell 5.2 per cent. Oil and natural gas production from Exxon wells was down to the lowest in three years as output slid everywhere the company operated except for Africa and Australia, cutting so-called upstream profit by 29 per cent to $5.97 billion.

Exxon was up 0.5 per cent at $91.60 at the close in New York and had risen 8.1 per cent this year.

Exxon's sales were down 7.7 per cent at $115.7 billion.

Exxon chairman and chief executive Rex Tillerson has budgeted around $100 million a day this year for prospecting, building gas-export terminals and upgradation of refineries and chemical plants.