A view of the Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas is seen in this file image from September 15, 2008. Exxon Mobil Corp reported a higher quarterly profit that missed Wall Street estimates as its refining business fell short. – Reuters picHOUSTON, July 28 – Exxon Mobil Corp, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported a higher quarterly profit that missed Wall Street estimates as its refining business fell short.

Shares of company fell 1.8 per cent to US$81.75 in pre-market trading.

“The culprit was downstream, more specifically international downstream,” Pavel Molchanov, oil analyst at Raymond James, said.

Exxon’s refining operations had a profit of US$1.36 billion (RM4.01 billion) in the quarter. Molchanov had expected a profit of US$2 billion for the unit, he said.

The company’s second-quarter profit rose 41 per cent to US$10.68 billion, or US$2.18 per share, up from US$7.56 billion, or US$1.60 per share a year ago.

Wall Street analysts on average had expected Exxon to report a profit of US$2.33 per share, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. – Reuters