ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest publicly listed oil company, said on Thursday it had invested $19bn through the first three quarters to develop new energy supplies, as it unveiled a 65 per cent year-on-year slump in quarterly earnings caused by falling commodity prices.

The US company reported $4.7bn in earnings, down 65 per cent from the year-earlier quarter, on the fall in commodity prices from last year’s record highs and higher operating costs. It brought in $82.3bn in revenue, down from $137.7bn in the third quarter of 2008.