US supermajors ExxonMobil and Chevron both posted narrower profits in the third quarter than a year ago amid falling commodity prices, but still reported robust net income and posted production gains on the strength of production in the US onshore sector.

ExxonMobil saw its net profit chopped in the third quarter as the average realised price of oil and gas sank, hitting the top line.

The US supermajor did, however, post a sizeable increase in production, mainly on the back of strong performance in its core Permian basin shale play in the US.

Total output grew by 3% to 3.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from 3.79 million boepd.

Net profit for the three months to the end of September was $3.17 billion, down from $6.24 billion in the year-ago period. Revenues came in at $65.05 billion versus $76.621 billion a year earlier.

"We are making excellent progress on our long-term growth strategy,” chief executive Darren Woods said.

“Growth in the Permian continues to drive increased liquids production and we are ahead of schedule for first oil in Guyana."

The supermajor also said its developments in the frontier South American oil province were continuing apace, with a final investment decision on the third phase of its project, Payara, pending government approvals.

Results beat analyst expectations even as capital spending came in $600 million over budget, analysts at Cowen told clients in a note.

“Production growth remains in line with plan per management,” analysts said.

“The company has acknowledged in the past that production growth will be lumpy, and we suspect that the August start-up of new regional infrastructure, including a central delivery point and pipeline to Wink, could bring higher production growth near-term.”

Chevron’s net income slumped to $2.58 billion, or $1.36 per share, in the three months ended 30 September, down from $4.05 billion a year earlier.

Revenues were $36.12 billion compared with $43.99 billion in last year's third quarter.

Worldwide net oil equivalent production nudged up to just over 3 million barrels per day from 2.96 million bpd a year ago, though average sales prices fell both in the US and internationally.

“Third-quarter earnings and cash flow were solid, but down from our very strong results of a year ago,” chief executive Michael Wirth said.

“Lower crude oil and natural gas prices more than offset a 3% increase in net oil-equivalent production from last year's third quarter.”

The company also acknowledged that its Tengiz Future Growth project in Kazakhstan faces cost increases of $4 billion to $5 billion and is likely to be completed a year late in mid-2023.

RBC Capital Markets said the company managed to beat earnings expectations by strong performance in the upstream segment, despite weakness in downstream, with lower corporate costs a driving factor.

“We think Chevron has gained credibility with investors by walking away from Anadarko, however investors rightly started to question ‘what's next’ for Chevron,” analyst Biraj Borkhataria wrote, referring to the proposed acquisition offer from the US supermajor later surpassed by Occidental.

“We think the company has capacity to do more within its financial framework, but management has shown it must be at the right price. In the interim, delivery in the Permian remains key to Chevron's investment case and this is likely to be the focus for 2019.”

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US's big two see falling prices narrow profits