Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday posted a 38% decline in quarterly profit as revenue slid more than expected amid the prolonged swoon in oil prices. Shares lost 1.7% premarket to $85.65 as the oil giant reported its eighth straight quarter of year-over-year profit declines and its ninth straight quarter of falling revenue. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said the operating environment “remains challenging.” For the September quarter, Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, reported earnings fell to $2.65 billion, or 63 cents a share, from $4.24 billion, or $1.01 a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for 58 cents a share. Revenue slipped 13% to $58.68 billion, below analysts’ forecast for $63.85 billion. Profit in the exploration and production, or upstream, business fell 16% to $620 million. Volumes declined 3% from a year ago, due to unplanned downtime, primarily in Nigeria, and new projects unable […]