Exxon profit jumps 49 pct, helped by asset sales

NEW YORK — Exxon Mobil said Thursday that net income rose 49 percent in the second quarter as it made $7.5 billion from selling company assets.

Those sales masked an otherwise tough quarter for America’s largest oil company. Exxon produced less oil and natural gas from April to June, and it sold both at lower prices. Excluding asset sales, company profit fell by 21.5 percent to $8.4 billion. That’s Exxon’s smallest profit since the third quarter of 2010.

Shares fell 84 cents, or 1 percent, to $84.40 in premarket trading.

Exxon Mobil Corp., based in Irving, Texas, reported net income of $15.9 billion, or $3.41 per share, for the April-June period. The results included the sale of a majority stake in Exxon’s Japanese refining and marketing business to TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. A year earlier, Exxon earned $10.7 billion, or $2.18 per share.

Quarterly revenue rose 1.5 percent to $127.4 billion.

Exxon’s profit from oil and natural gas production fell. Production slipped 5.6 percent and the company sold oil and natural gas at lower prices. Its downstream business, which includes oil refineries, increased profits in the U.S. and overseas. Exxon’s chemical business notched higher profits overseas, but earnings fell in the U.S.