HOUSTON, July 31 (Reuters) - ExxonMobil XOM.N missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Friday, sending its shares down about 2% in premarket trading, even as high oil prices and refining margins due to the Iran war led to its biggest quarterly profit in four years.
Adjusted earnings for the largest U.S. oil major by market capitalisation rose 67% from the first quarter to $14.7 billion, or $3.52 per share, and below the consensus analyst estimates compiled by LSEG of $3.60 per share.
Still, the quarterly profit was more than double the amount in the same period last year and could draw a further backlash from U.S. President Donald Trump. Last month he called for an investigation into oil companies he accused of price gouging.
Exxon Chief Financial Officer Neil Hansen said the company's underlying results were strong and attributed the miss to "extreme swings" in commodity prices and margins that were difficult to model.
Fellow U.S. oil major Chevron CVX.N beat analyst estimates for the second quarter, as did its European counterpart Shell SHEL.L. Results from Paris-based TotalEnergies TTEF.PA for the three months ending in June were in line with expectations.
"The second quarter was shaped by disruption, but defined by execution,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a statement. "As conditions changed, we moved products where they were needed."
While the U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April, the two sides have remained at odds over terms for a peace deal including details about how to resume shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which one-fifth of global energy supplies normally transit.
Uncertainty over the tenuous ceasefire pushed up the price of benchmark Brent crude to an average closing price of $96.68 per barrel during the second quarter, up 23% from the first three months of the year.
Exxon's stock is up 28% year-to-date, just under the S&P 500 energy index, which is up 29%.
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