HOUSTON, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. energy company, said on Thursday its third quarter earnings fell 7 percent from a year ago on declining oil production and weak domestic gas prices.
The Texas-based energy giant reported a net income of 9.57 billion U.S. dollars for the third quarter, down from 10.33 billion in the same period a year ago.
Revenue was 115.71 billion U.S. dollars, nearly 8 percent lower than in the third quarter of 2011.
The third-quarter earnings declined because the company's production fell 7.5 percent from this same period a year ago, Exxon Mobil said.
Another reason for the earnings drop was a lack of asset sales in the quarter.
Sales in the third quarter of 2011 gave the company a one billion U.S. dollars boost in earnings.
A bright spot for the company was improving results in its refining businesses.
Exxon Mobil's downstream earnings, mainly from refining, were nearly 3.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 1.6 billion from the third quarter of 2011.
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