IRVING, Texas (

TheStreet

) --

Exxon Mobil

topped fourth-quarter forecasts Monday, though its earnings tumbled 23% in the fourth quarter as its refining operations got hit by dwindling margins.

In an early morning release, the world's largest non-government sponsored oil company said it earned $6.05 billion, or $1.27 a share, in the most recently completed quarter. The effort fell short of the $7.82 billion, or $1.54 a share, pocketed a year earlier.

But Exxon Mobil managed to top forecasts calling for $1.19 a share, according to analysts surveyed by

Thomson Reuters.

Revenue also beat forecasts, rising 6.1% to $89.84 billion. The

Dow component's

performance helped buoy gains for many of the integrated oil majors in the morning, as Exxon Mobil shares were improving 2.2% to $65.85.

Upstream earnings, or those attributed to its exploration and production operations, rose by $146 million to $5.78 billion during the fourth quarter, as stronger crude prices boosted that side of the business. Production also rose by nearly 2%, while capital and exploration expenditures jumped by 21%.

But much like its peers, Exxon Mobil's refining operations continued to drag on its overall results. The downstream side swung to a $189 million loss, down a whopping $2.6 billion from a year earlier. Margins continued to slide because of slumping demand for refined products like gasoline and diesel. But the price for crude oil, or the primary input used to make refined products, continued to rise.

In the U.S. alone, Exxon Mobil's downstream business lost $287 million. Outside of the U.S., the segment earned $98 million, though that was far off the $2.43 billion earned a year ago.

For the full year, earnings fell 57% from a year ago to $19.3 billion, or $3.98 a share. When oil prices surged above $140 a barrel in 2008, Exxon Mobil earned a U.S. record $45.2 billion, or $8.66 a share for the year.

In the fourth quarter, Exxon Mobil also announced a big foray into natural gas, saying it would acquire natural gas producer

XTO Energy

(XTO)

in a $31 billion deal.

Elsewhere, shares of

Chevron

(CVX) - Get Report

advanced 0.7%, while,

ConocoPhillips

(COP) - Get Report

jumped 2.3%. The NYSE Oil Index was improving by 1.8%.

--Written by Sung Moss in New York