Refining has been considered a drag on earnings by some analysts, but the world's biggest refiner didn't buy that logic. It resisted the trend of spinning off refineries to focus on oil drilling.

In 2012, Exxon Mobil posted the second-highest annual profit in U.S. history, surpassed only by its own 2008 record. Net income rose to $44.8 billion, a 9.3% jump from the previous year and only slightly below its 2008 record $45.22 billion.

In the year ahead, the company plans to reduce oil and natural gas production by 1% and focus on investments in tapping into hard-to-reach fields.