Oil industry earnings have been squeezed this year by slowing demand and weak margins on petrol and diesel. However, Exxon’s year-over-year profit fell 5%, a much smaller drop than at rivals BP and TotalEnergies, which posted sharply lower quarterly results.

The US oil producer reported income of US$8.61 billion, down from US$9.07 billion a year ago. Its US$1.92 per share profit topped Wall Street’s outlook of US$1.88 per share, on higher oil and gas production and spending constraints.

“We had a number of production records” in the quarter, said finance chief Kathryn Mikells, citing an about 25% year-on-year increase in oil and gas output, to 4.6 million barrels per day.

Exxon earlier this month had flagged operating profit likely fell, leading Wall Street analysts to shave their quarterly per share earnings outlook by nearly 10 cents.

The results included Exxon’s first full quarter of production following its acquisition in May of Pioneer Natural Resources. The US$60 billion deal drove production in the top US shale basin to nearly 1.4 million barrels per day of oil and gas, helping overcome a 17% decline in average oil prices in the quarter ended Sept 30.

Exxon disclosed it raised its quarterly dividend by 4% after generating free cash flow of US$11.3 billion, well above analysts’ estimates. Rivals Saudi Aramco and Chevron have had to borrow this year to cover shareholder returns after boosting dividends and buybacks to attract investors.