By Armando Duke

(AXcess News) Houston - Oil giant ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) nearly doubled reported second quarter earnings to $7.56 billion, its second-highest earnings period since the fourth quarter of 2008.

The world's largest publicly traded company reported earnings 14 cents a share above the street's consensus coming in at $1.60 per share, compared to 81 cents a share in the year ago period.  What was most remarkable about XOM's results was the fact that back in the fourth quarter of 2008 ExxonMobil saw oil prices that reached a high of nearly $150 per barrel that summer.

Energy pundits where looking for a profit of $1.46 a share.

ExxonMobil's oil production largely came from operating units in Africa, Asia and the Middle East with only a fraction of its oil production coming from the troubled Gulf of Mexico area which has been devistated by the largest oil spill in U.S. history from a BP PLC (NYSE: BP) platform that collapsed nearly three months ago that has leaked millions of barrels into the sea and threatened coastlines from Florida to Mexico that only recently was capped.

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-B), which also has a strong Gulf of Mexico oil production presence, reported second quarter earnings this morning of 72 cents a share in the share quarter, compared to 62 cents in the year ago period.  The company reported a charge of $56 million for the period from idled oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.  Still, earnings improved some 15 percent in the second quarter.

BP PLC reported a loss of $17 billion in the period that includes a $32.2 billion charge for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.  That number could rise even further as the real damage assessment is first underway now that the deepwater well has finally been capped.

Yet of the major oil companies, ExxonMobil remains the clear market leader, with oil prices in the second quarter averaging more than $78 per barrel and natural gas averaging $4.35 per million btu.  Looking forward, natural gas prices for XOM are up 14 percent and with its recent acquisition of natural gas producer XTO Energy, XOM has become the largest natural gas company in the U.S.  This morning, natural gas prices were up at $4.80 per million btu while west Texas crude oil rose 1.68% to $78.28 per barrel.