FEATURE | Iran war hits ExxonMobil's bottomline, but manages to beat Q1 earnings estimates

Upstream earnings, including identified items, were $5.7 billion, up 63 per cent from the previous quarter and down 15 per cent from last year.

The downstream unit registered a loss of $1.3 billion compared with a profit of $827 million last year. Excluding all timing effects, Exxon said downstream profits were $2.8 billion.

Hansen said the underlying business was resilient and that, excluding all timing impacts and undelivered cargoes, net income grew compared to the previous year.

Exxon's free cash flow was $2.7 billion during the first quarter, down from $8.8 billion in the year-ago period. The company paid $4.3 billion in dividends and repurchased $4.9 billion worth of shares during the first quarter.

Cash capital expenditures totalled $6.2 billion, in line with the company's full-year guidance.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Houston; Editing by Nathan Crooks, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Barbara Lewis)