NEW YORK, April 9 -- ExxonMobil on Wednesday disclosed a six per cent drop in first-quarter petroleum production due to Middle East war-related outages, according to a securities filing.

The war, beginning with the February 28 US-Israeli attack on Iran, lifted oil prices to more than US$100 (RM397)  a barrel in recent weeks and prompted a surge in natural gas prices in some markets.

While crude prices fell sharply Wednesday after the two sides announced a ceasefire, the surge in commodity prices is expected to boost oil company earnings overall.

As for ExxonMobil's first-quarter profit outlook, a sudden surge in commodity prices typically results in a "negative" impact to oil earnings because of the way oil inventories are valued ...