NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Exxon Mobil Corp. reported lower third-quarter earnings Thursday as the world's No. 1 oil company felt the effects of a weaker economy and a slowdown in air travel.

The Irving, Tex.-based conglomerate said it earned $2.94 billion in the quarter, or 44 cents per share, excluding one-time items, down from $3.32 billion, or 48 cents, also excluding one-time items, a year ago. Wall Street analysts, on average, expected the company to earn 43 cents, according to earnings tracker First Call.

While quarterly revenue rose to $54.18 billion from $52.11 billion a year ago, Exxon Mobil's earnings have declined every quarter for more than a year.

Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM: up $0.85 to $34.08, Research, Estimates) rose 85 cents Wednesday to close at $34.08. The company's stock fell about 22 percent in the third quarter, underperforming the broader Dow Jones industrial average, of which it is a component.

Exxon said profit from producing fuels such as gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel was undercut by the economic slowdown and the decline in travel.

Already under pressure from weak economies, prices for refined fuels such as heating oil and jet fuel have been further undercut by a slowdown in air travel and brimming inventories.

Strong crude prices have only made matters worse, squeezing the profit margin between unrefined crude and the petroleum products produced from it.

Crude oil prices averaged just over $28 a barrel in the third quarter, up about 6 percent from the period a year ago, largely because of a "war premium" that was built into the price by rising tensions between the United States and Iraq.

Natural gas prices rose too, averaging $3.20 per thousand cubic feet, up nearly 14 percent from the $2.81 per thousand cubic feet average of a year ago.

Exxon Mobil's exploration and production business saw its earnings rise with the stronger energy prices. Earnings there climbed by $286 million to $2.4 billion.  

-- from staff and wire reports