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HOUSTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil and gas company, on Thursday reported an 18 percent drop in profit in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2012.

The oil giant's third-quarter earnings were 7.87 billion U.S. dollars, down 1.7 billion dollars, or 18 percent, year-on-year. But the figure for the third quarter is higher than the 6.9 billion dollars registered in the second quarter, which saw Exxon Mobil's worst profit since early 2010.

Exxon Mobil's oil and natural gas production rose as new projects were launched and maintenance-related downtime decreased. Its oil-equivalent production grew 1.5 percent to 4 million barrels per day.

Meanwhile, the company's downstream earnings were negatively affected by significantly weaker refining margins due to increased industry capacity.

The oil giant estimated its downstream earnings at 592 million dollars, down 2.6 billion dollars from the third quarter of 2012. Weaker margins mainly in refining decreased earnings by 2.4 billion dollars.