HOUSTON, July 28 Reuters Exxon Mobil39;s secondquarter profit dropped 56 and fell short of Wall Street expectations, the company said on Friday, joining rivals hurt by the sharp decline in energy prices and lower fuel margins.

Profits for global oil majors have dropped by about half from a bumper 2022, when Russia39;s invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring.

Excluding last year39;s record second quarter, however, Exxon posted its strongest result for the ApriltoJune quarter in more than a decade, the largest U.S. oil company said, helped by cost cuts and the sale of less profitable assets. It plans further cost cutting after so far erasing 8.3 billion cumulatively since 2019.

That is quite a good quarter for us, Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells told Reuters. You would have to go back to the second quarter of 2011 to find the last time we produced this level of earnings in the second quarter excluding last year, she said.

Net quarterly income was 7.88 billion, or 1.94 per share, versus a record 17.85 billion a year earlier. Wall Street was expecting 2.01 per share, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Exxon results came in slightly weaker than expected across earnings and cash flow, RBC analyst Biraj Borkhataria wrote in a note.

Shares of Exxon were down about 2 in morning trade while rival Chevron, which also reported a plunge in profits on Sunday, fell about 1.

Both top U.S. producers, which have been favoring repaying shareholders over capital…