ExxonMobil Reports Rise in Upstream Profits

US major ExxonMobil has announced lower than expected first quarter net income of US$10,890m, a 17 percent rise from the same quarter 2007.

Profits were affected by record worldwide crude oil prices, partly offset by lower refining and chemical margins, lower production volumes and higher operating costs, says the company.

But upstream results were up US$2,744m from the first quarter of 2007 to US$8,785m with record high crude oil and natural gas prices increasing earnings by approximately US$4.4bn.

Earnings from the company's exploration and production business were up 45 percent to US$8.79bn, while its refining profits dropped 39 percent to US$1.17bn.

Spending on capital and exploration projects totalled US$5.5bn in the first quarter, up 30 percent from last year.

During the first quarter 2008, the ExxonMobil-operated Kizomba C deepwater development offshore Angola started production.

The field is designed to produce 600 million barrels of oil from the Mondo, Saxi and Batuque fields utilising two floating production, storage and offloading vessels.

Earlier this week BP and Shell posted massive rises in profits boosted by the high price of oil.

By Ozge Ibrahim