Washington - Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, was at the vortex Thursday of demands from environmentally conscious stockholders and vote-seeking politicians as it released record first-quarter profits.

As the company's revenue climbed 34 per cent to 116.8 billion dollars compared to the same period last year, global warming was on the minds of Exxon shareholders.

A day earlier, descendants of John D Rockefeller, founder of Exxon's distant ancestor, Standard Oil Co, lobbied the company to change its business practices.

Family stockholders publicly pushed management to cut greenhouse- gas emissions and to examine whether Exxon should more actively pursue sustainable energy technologies, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"There is a need for Exxon to identify energy-related ... strengths and skills in an industry that will soon look very different than it did when ... the current managers joined Exxon," Neva Rockefeller Goodwin.

Earlier Thursday, an international investors' project released data about how the world's largest corporations are getting their suppliers to monitor, measure and report greenhouse-gas emissions.

The emissions data are part of a survey by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a British-based collaboration of 385 private investment firms including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley that aims to convince companies that there are ways to profit from reducing emissions.

General Motors accelerated its alternative fuel interests Thursday by investing in its second bio-fuel programme since year's begin, making an unspecified investment in a New Hampshire-based company, Mascoma, which is working on turning bio-mass such as papermill waste, corn stalks, wood chips and switchgrass into fuel.

The debate in the ongoing US presidential election campaign over rising fuel prices has brought increased scrutiny of oil companies.

High crude oil prices boosted Exxon's quarterly net income by 17 per cent from the previous year to 10.9 billion dollars.

Yet, Exxon's profits fell short of analysts' expectations and also failed to match the fourth quarter of 2007 when, thanks to swift increases in oil prices, the company reported net earnings of 11.7 billion dollars, the largest-ever quarterly earnings for a US company. On Wall Street, Exxon shares fell after the quarterly report.

But such strong profits emphasized anew how rising fuel prices have strained consumers and businesses alike. Truckers, who haul goods across the US and whose livelihoods are tied to the price of diesel fuel, rallied this week in Washington, with horns blaring to rally against pump prices and urge Congress to take action.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton again jumped on Big Oil, as the industry is often disparaged, calling Thursday for taxing windfall energy profits, after Exxon Mobil Corp reported record first-quarter earnings.

"I believe we should impose a windfall profits tax on big oil companies and use that money to suspend the (petrol) tax and give families relief at the pump," Clinton said following Exxon's profit report.

"The typical family could get 70 dollars in relief, and families that drive more for work could get even more. Truckers will get a 50- dollar break every time they fill up their tanks."

Clinton and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain have both called for suspending the federal tax on petrol during the summer peak driving season. Clinton's Democratic rival Barack Obama has criticized the idea, saying the move would rob the federal highway fund of money needed to maintain the system. (dpa)