Announcing the secondbiggest quarterly profit of any company, Exxon unveiled a 36 per cent rise in net income to $10.4 billion for the second quarter as it benefited from soaring oil prices.

Sales rose by 12 per cent to $99 billion, or $1.08 billion a day, over the same period.

Oil prices, already under pressure from a surge in demand from fast-growing economies such as India and China, have jumped further in recent weeks as tensions have mounted in the Middle East. Oil futures in the US averaged $70.72 a barrel during the second quarter, a third more than the same time last year. The price of a barrel of oil hit a record $78.40 on July 14, more than three times the amount at the end of 2001.

In 2005 Exxon reported the largest net income on record, at $36.1 billion. But analysts believe that the figure this year will be higher as the oil price surge looks likely to continue.

Peter Beutel, an oil analyst at Cameron Hanover, an American energy consultant, said: “One hundred dollars a barrel is certainly possible within the next three months. Iran could easily go rogue, cutting off its nose to spite its face as it seeks to score political points.”

Iran could send the price of oil spiralling if it blocks the Straits of Hormuz, a stretch of water to the south of the country that is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and through which one fifth of the world’s oil passes.

Shares in Exxon, which is based in Texas, rose 1.3 per cent on Wall Street as the results came in slightly ahead of analysts’ forecasts, but fell back to close $0.12 down at $66.47.

This week BP has reported a 26 per cent rise in profits to $6.1 billion. ConocoPhillips’ profit jumped nearly two thirds to a record $5.19 billion. Royal Dutch Shell yesterday reported a 40 per cent rise in its second-quarter profits to $7.32 billion.

ExxonMobil’s profits were further boosted as the average margin on processing crude oil into fuel jumped by 41 per cent.

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