--Exxon, Chevron, Conoco 2Q earnings to surge, thanks to higher oil prices and improved refining margins --Quarterly profits likely to be shy of their all-time high 2008 levels due to depressed natural-gas prices --Price spread between WTI and Brent crude oils expected to help oil majors' refining arms TAKING THE PULSE: Second-quarter earnings for the three largest U.S. oil companies by market value are expected to jump by an average of 36% compared with the same period a year earlier, thanks to higher oil prices and improved refining margins. Earnings, however, are likely to be shy of their all-time 2008 record levels, due to the fact that natural gas remains cheap. Light, sweet crude oil in the U.S. appreciated on average more than $24 a barrel compared with the same quarter a year ago, while European benchmark Brent crude appreciated $39 a barrel in the same period. On Tuesday, West Texas Intermediate crude oil settled at $97.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude oil settled at $117.75 a barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange. Natural-gas prices in the U.S. remain depressed--trading around $4 a million British thermal units--in the quarter ended June 30 due to a glut in supply resulting from companies learning how to profitably tap unconventional reservoirs in the last decade. Second-quarter profits should also continue to benefit from the strides made by the oil giants' refining arms in the first quarter as they continue to take advantage of the price spread between WTI and Brent crude oils. Last month, the price spread between the two oil-futures contracts exceeded $23 a barrel, in part due to a glut of oil at the WTI Nymex contract's delivery point in Cushing, Okla.

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