Exxon Mobil Corp reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit on Thursday, as oil prices and margins to process crude into fuel rebounded from a year earlier and production rose.

Profit in the quarter was $7.56 billion, or $1.60 per share, compared with $4.09 billion, or 84 cents a share, a year ago.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.46 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Oil and gas output in the quarter rose 8 percent.

Shares of Exxon rose to $61.10 in premarket trading from Wednesday's close of $60.91.

(Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston, editing by Dave Zimmerman)