Despite the fact that ExxonMobil's second quarter profits have been declared as $15.9 billion, a 49% increase from the year before, its quarterly earnings have been lower than predicted.
This is because most of its profit came from the $7.5 billion sale of its stake in a Japanese refining and chemicals company, amongst other things.
Ignoring the one off asset sales, Exxon earned just $8.4 billion, a value of $1.80 per share, and 22% less than the predicted $1.95 per share.
Oil and gas output actually fell by 5.6 percent to 4.15 million barrels per day, whilst oil prices fell 8.8 percent and natural gas prices dropped a massive 46.2 percent.
Exxon's chemical business also struggled, earning only $820 million, 33% less than analysts at Raymond James had predicted.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More