The world’s largest oil companies continue to disappoint investors with limited cash payouts and profits that have failed to match the rally in crude, reflecting the fragile nature of a recovery from one of the worst price crashes in a generation. Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM -2.75% said net income rose to $4 billion for the April-June quarter, up 18% compared with the same period a year earlier but substantially below the 50% oil-price increase in that three-month stretch. The company’s production fell to 3.6 million barrels of oil and gas a day, the lowest in more than 20 years, due in part to an earthquake in Papua New Guinea and a shift away from less profitable U.S. natural gas drilling. Second-quarter profit at Chevron Corp. CVX 1.63% more than doubled to $3.4 billion and the company said it will begin buying back about $3 billion in shares annually. The […]