Exxon Mobil Corp said Thursday that first-quarter profit rose 38 percent as the largest U.S. oil company benefited from crude prices that nearly doubled from a year ago, but the results missed Wall Street expectations.

Profit in the quarter was $6.3 billion, or $1.33 per share, compared with $4.55 billion, or 92 cents per share, a year earlier.

Wall Street analysts had expected Exxon to report a profit of $1.41 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of Exxon fell nearly 2 percent to $68 before the start of regular trading.

(Reporting by Anna Driver; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)