New York - The world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil, reported the largest quarterly profit in US history Thursday on the back of record oil prices.

Exxon earned 14.83 billion dollars in the quarter, an increase of 60 per cent on the same quarter of 2007.

Sales increased by 35 per cent to 137.74 billion dollars in the same period, the company reported from its headquarters in Houston in the US state of Texas, far exceeding analysts' forecasts.

Exxon Mobil held the previous quarterly profit record, with 11.7 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2008.

Oil prices climbed above a record 147 dollars in July, but have since fallen below 68 dollars on concerns that the global economy is headed into a recession. (dpa)