ExxonMobil reported on Friday earnings of US$1.7 billion for the second quarter, a 59-percent tumble on the year, amid sharply lower commodity prices and weaker refining margins. Earnings per share assuming dilution fell to US$0.41 from US$1.00 for the second quarter last year, missing Thomson Reuters’ analyst expectations of US$0.64 earnings per share. Upstream earnings plummeted by US$1.7 billion, to US$294 million in the second quarter of 2016, and the U.S. upstream segment posted a loss of US$514 million, swelled from a loss of US$47 million in the second quarter of 2015. Non-U.S. upstream earnings tumbled by US$1.3 billion, to US$808 million. Exxon’s oil-equivalent production dropped to 3.957 million barrels per day compared with 3.979 million boepd. The production numbers this April to June were nearly 3 percent below the 4.069-million average forecast of four analyst estimates, according to Bloomberg. Exxon said that efforts to increase […]