(Oct 28): Exxon Mobil Corp extended its longest streak of profit declines in almost three decades as a prolonged slump in energy markets squeezed crude-oil exploration and refining. The year-on-year decline in quarterly profit was the eighth in a row, a pattern of dwindling returns Exxon hasn’t posted since at least 1988. Refining margins in the U.S. averaged less than US$14 a barrel during the quarter, 35% lower than the year-earlier figure. Exxon announced a billion-barrel discovery off the coast of Nigeria on Thursday, the company’s second major offshore find in as many years. In May 2015, the explorer disclosed what it called a “world-class discovery” in Guyanese waters that Exxon later estimated may yield as much as 1.4 billion barrels.

Source: The Edge Markets October 28, 2016 12:39 UTC