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January 31st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda NEW YORK (AP) — Soaring oil prices helped Exxon Mobil post a slightly higher fourth-quarter profit. But a slowdown in production and lower natural gas prices are worrying investors.
Exxon’s oil and natural gas production fell 9 percent during the quarter. The drop came even after the company spent a record $36.8 billion last year to explore for more energy. Exxon’s stock price fell $1.74, or 2 percent, to $83.75 a share in midday trade.
Exploration can take years to yield more oil and gas. Some of Exxon’s biggest investments recently have been in U.S. natural gas fields, which so far haven’t paid off because prices are at the lowest level in a decade.
Its $29 billion acquisition of XTO Energy two years ago has been a disappointment, Oppenheimer Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said.
The deal, which overnight made Exxon America’s biggest natural gas producer, hasn’t generated the kind of profits that investors expected.
Gheit said the company needs to consider cutting production. “They don’t want to have dead wood dragging them down,” he said.
The business Exxon is best known for, oil, drove results during the quarter. In the final three months of the year, the company sold crude for 27 percent more than a year earlier.
That boosted net income to $9.4 billion, or $1.97 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $9.25 billion, or $1.85 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose nearly 16 percent to $121.6 billion.
Exxon produced an average of 4.5 million barrels of oil and natural gas a day. That’s nearly twice as much as Chevron Corp., America’s second-largest petroleum company.
But the output is less than what Exxon’s wells produced the year before. That’s partly because some of fields matured and produced less. Also, many contracts in foreign countries limit the amount of oil that Exxon can keep and sell as prices rise.
Earnings in Exxon’s exploration and production business rose 18 percent thanks to higher prices.
But those same prices hurt its refining business, where income dropped 63 percent. The refineries have struggled to pass along to customers the higher cost of oil used for gasoline, diesel and other fuels. That’s because demand is slowing in many parts of the world.
Stricter rules on car and truck fuel economy are expected to keep demand low for years in the U.S. and Europe.
As result, large oil and gas companies have been shedding refining operations, especially in developed markets.
Exxon announced Sunday that it is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. for $3.9 billion following an extended slide in Japanese fuel demand. The deal is expected to close mid-year.
Exxon’s chemicals business saw profits decline 49 percent.
For the full year, Exxon’s net income rose 34.8 percent while revenue rose 26.9 percent.
Last week, Chevron Corp. said profits slipped 3.2 percent. ConocoPhillips reported a 66-percent increase in quarterly earnings, though much of that came from the sale of a pipeline and other assets. Royal Dutch Shell expects to report its financial results later this week.
Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 91 cents to $84.58 in early trading.
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