Exxon Mobil earns record $11.68 billion

Record crude oil prices pushed Exxon Mobil Corp.’s second-quarter earnings to a record as well, with the Irving-based company reporting $11.7 billion in net income.

That included an after-tax charge of $290 million to account for the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that put a $508 million cap on punitive damages for the company’s 1989 Alaska oil spill. Earnings amounted to $2.22 per share, short of Wall Street expectations of $2.52, and the company’s shares were down about 3 percent in morning trading.

Earnings on petroleum production more than doubled, to $10 billion, even as production of crude oil and natural gas slipped 8 percent from a year earlier. Refining and marketing profits were down 15 percent, to $1.6 billion, as prices for products like gasoline and petrochemicals lagged the higher cost of crude oil.

Exxon produces refines more crude oil than it produces, so rising oil prices tend to pinch its refining profits. The company also said it spent $7 billion on exploration and other capital projects, up 38 percent from a year earlier, and repurchased $8 billion worth of its own shares.

Daily production of crude oil averaged 2.4 million barrels during the quarter, down 10 percent. Natural gas production averaged 8.4 billion cubic feet a day, down 3 percent.

Exxon said crude oil production was hurt by the expropriation of its Venezuela operations, a strike in Nigeria and a declined in the company’s share of production in countries where it shares output with the national government.

JIM FUQUAY, 817-390-7552