For Mobil, currently being acquired by Exxon Corp., the quarter was still slightly better than analysts had expected. The Fairfax, Va. company said net income including special items was $464 million, or 58 cents a diluted share, compared with $705 million, or 86 per share, last year.

Analysts had forecast Mobil to post income of 54 cents a share, according to First Call Corp., which tracks company earnings. Revenue dropped from $13.6 billion last year to $12.2 billion in the first three months of this year. Gene Nowak, an analyst with ABN AMRO, said first quarter income slipped past forecasts because of better-than-expected results from both its cost savings program and refining and marketing business outside the United States.

"But the first quarter is somewhat academic," he said. "The quarter is history, and the second quarter should bemuch better."Oil prices this week have risen above $18 a barrel for the first time in more than a year, which analysts say should brighten the picture for Mobil and other energy companies in the quarters ahead. Still, Mobil's chairman and chief executive Lucio Noto cautioned that industry conditions remain "unpredictable" in the near-term.

"Crude oil prices, after deteriorating during the entire year of 1998 and most of the first quarter of 1999, have recently improved somewhat," he said in a statement. "However, some pressure is building on marketing and lubes margins due to the lag effect of rising crude prices." Mobil said first quarter net income included a $7 million charge for costs related to the acquisition by Exxon, which is still awaiting shareholder and regulatory approval.

The first quarter last year included a charge of $10 million for costs associated with its refining and marketing alliance with BP in Europe. Mobil shares fell $1.44 to $98.88 in mid-morning composite trade on the New YorkStock Exchange. Cushioning some of the slide in oil, natural gas, and chemical prices was a "self-help" program.