Exxon’s oil output dropped almost 10 percent to 2.47 million barrels a day compared with last year, as production declined in every region of the world except for Russia and the Caspian region. Production of natural gas rose by a little more than 1 percent to 10.2 billion cubic feet a day.

The combined oil and gas production fell by almost 6 percent, to 4.18 million barrels a day in the first quarter, the company reported in a statement.

“Deeply concerned about future energy supply, the market wants growth, growth and growth,” Paul Sankey, an analyst with Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note Thursday morning. “Exxon Mobil does not offer that right now.”

While energy companies have no control over the price of oil, which is set on international futures markets, they have benefited from the rally in commodity markets. Exxon, for example, earned over $163 billion from 2003 to 2007. Oil prices more than quadrupled during that period.

But because of how some contracts are structured, international companies must give a larger share of the oil they produce back to the host governments as prices rise. In addition, the higher prices have sparked a wave of energy nationalizations from Russia to South America, that has left Western oil companies with a smaller footprint to operate.

The higher prices have also translated into sharp inflation in the industry, with drilling and production costs more than doubling in recent years. As a result, oil companies have been struggling to increase their oil and gas production.

In the United States, the political attention has been increasingly focusing on the impact of high energy costs on the economy and on pocketbooks. The Senate blocked a $15 billion extra tax on oil companies late last year but calls for a windfall profit tax will probably to re-emerge this year.