Exxon Mobil Corp ( XOM.N ) boosted its 2017 capital budget on Tuesday by about 14 percent on a bet that crude prices have stabilized, but posted its lowest quarterly profit since 1999 as it took a $2 billion charge from the purchase of natural gas producer XTO Energy. The world’s largest publicly traded oil producer wrote down more than $2 billion from its 2009 buyout of natural gas NGc1 producer XTO Energy, a deal worth roughly $30 billion at the time. The writedown is a tacit acknowledgement from Exxon that natural gas prices are not likely to rise substantially in the near future. The boost in capital expenditures and the writedown reflect a delicate balancing act by oil and natural gas companies […]