Washington - Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday that record crude oil prices boosted the company's net income by 17 per cent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.

Exxon said that it earned 10.9 billion dollars in the first three months of the year. Revenue climbed more than one- third to 116.8 billion dollars, the company reported from Houston, Texas on Thursday.

Analysts had expected even higher earnings by Exxon. However, its profits fell short of the final quarter of 2007 when, thanks to swift increases in oil prices, the company reported net earnings of 11.7 billion dollars, the largest quarterly earnings for a US company to date.

Two European competitors British Petroleum (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell also reported significantly increased profits this week. (dpa)