VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Exxon Mobil Corp said on Monday its quarterly profit fell 21 percent as weak oil prices took a toll, but results topped Wall Street expectations due to a tax adjustment and higher earnings from its chemicals business.

A small but heavily subscribed pipeline that transports 42,000 barrels a day of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken region is expected to remain closed on Tuesday after a weekend breach that spilled 1,200 barrels of crude into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana.

For the past 18 months, Americans from Albany to Oregon have voiced growing alarm over the rising number of oil-laden freight trains coursing through their cities, a trend they fear is endangering public safety.

Oil production from the United States' biggest shale plays is poised to keep expanding at the same breakneck pace into early next year, according to new U.S. projections released on Monday that highlighted a slow response to tumbling prices.

U.S. energy firms are swiftly shifting drilling rigs away from less productive areas and hunkering down in sweet spots of North Dakota and Texas shale oil fields as they try to lift output and cut costs in response to the toughest crude market in years.