Exxon Mobil Corp. profit fell, missing analyst estimates, as an oil glut spread to motor fuels, dragging down refinery margins.
Net income declined to $1.7 billion, or 41 cents a share, from $4.19 billion, or $1, a year earlier, Irving, Texas-based Exxon said in a statement on Friday. The per-share result was 23 cents lower than the 64-cent average of 20 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The lowest estimate was 55 cents.
Crude and natural gas prices dropped during the quarter compared to the same period last year in markets overburdened with supplies. With diesel and gasoline prices also slumping, Exxon and other major oil companies were deprived of the tempering effect oil refining typically provides during times of low crude prices. Margins from refining oil into fuels at U.S. refineries, based on futures prices, plunged 30 percent to a second-quarter average of $17.12 a barrel from $24.42 a year earlier.
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