Exxon Mobil profit is biggest ever

Oil giant's net reaches $14.83b in third quarter

Exxon Mobil said net income jumped nearly 58 percent to $2.86 a share in the July-to-September period, even as production sagged. (Don Ryan/Associated Press/File 2008)

HOUSTON - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported income yesterday that shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a US corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter.

Yet numbers contained within the company's most recent financial report revealed production numbers that continue to sag.

The Irving, Texas-based company said net income jumped nearly 58 percent to $2.86 a share in the July-September period. That compares with $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year ago. The latest quarter's net income equaled $1,865.69 per second, nearly $400 a second more than the prior mark.

The previous record for US corporate profit was set in the last quarter, when Exxon earned $11.68 billion.

Revenue rose 35 percent to $137.7 billion.

On average, analysts expected Exxon to earn $2.39 per share in the latest quarter on revenue of $131.4 billion.

Exxon Mobil's results got a boost of $1.62 billion in the most recent quarter from the sale of a natural gas transportation business in Germany. It also took an after-tax charge of $170 million for a punitive damages award related to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

As expected, Exxon Mobil reaped massive earnings from its exploration and production arm, where net income rose 48 percent to $9.35 billion.

A not-so-bright note was Exxon's output, which once again was below year-ago levels. The company, which produces 3 percent of the world's oil, said production was down 8 percent from a year ago. Exxon cited disruptions caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, production-sharing contracts and increased maintenance activity.