Exxon profit up, tops Street on taxes, output

Exxon Mobil Corp reported a better-than-expected 53 percent increase in quarterly profit, helped by a lower tax rate and a surge in natural gas production in the United States and Qatar. Oil demand rose last year and the US government expects another 1.5 percent gain this year as businesses' and consumers' appetite for fuels like diesel and gasoline rise as the global economy slowly mends.
The largest publicly traded company's exploration and production results were also lifted by higher oil prices, which climbed 12 percent from a year earlier to average around $85 per barrel in the fourth quarter. Still, Exxon's bottom line was also helped by lower taxes, an analyst said.
"A lot of the beat looks like it was on a lower effective tax rate," Phil Weiss, oil analyst at Argus Research said on Monday. "Production was really strong, but the beat really was on gas, which is not as profitable as liquids. Weiss had expected a tax rate of 46 percent, but said the company's actual fourth-quarter rate was about 38 percent.