While net income declined slightly from the previous year to $5.4 billion, the energy giant reported strong growth in its trading and natural gas businesses.
Crude oil prices zoomed higher in the first three months of 2019, but they were still much lower on average than the same period a year ago.
That has weighed on results from rival producers including Exxon Mobil (XOM) and BP (BP), both of which reported steep profit declines for the first quarter.
2. Volkswagen's resilience: German auto giant Volkswagen (VLKAF) delivered fewer cars in the first quarter, but a strong performance by its financial services division led to a revenue increase of 3.1%.
Profits of €3.9 billion ($4.4 billion) were in line with analyst expectations.
Volkswagen said it had set aside another €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to cover costs related to its diesel emissions scandal. It also reported lower revenue from its Porsche and Audi brands.
Yet the company stuck with its 2019 forecasts for profit and sales, which call for a slight increase in deliveries over last year. Carmakers are facing tough conditions this year including weakness in China.
Shares in Volkswagen increased 5% in Frankfurt.
3. Central banks on hold: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its key benchmark rate unchanged despite renewed calls by President Donald Trump for lower interest rates.
Policymakers led by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell unanimously agreed to leave rates alone, sticking with the wait-and-see approach outlined earlier this year.
"We don't see a strong case for moving in either direction," Powell said at a press conference. "The committee is comfortable with our current policy stance."
The Bank of England will announce its latest policy decision on Thursday. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged amid continued uncertainty over the outlook for the British economy because of confusion over Brexit.
4. Global market overview: US stock futures were higher.
European markets opened in negative territory. Markets were closed in Shanghai and Tokyo, but stocks in Hong Kong advanced 0.8%.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.6% on Wednesday. The S&P 500 shed 0.8% and the Nasdaq declined 0.6%.
5. Earnings and economics: CIGNA (CI), DowDuPont (DWDP), Dunkin (DNKN), Hanesbrands (HBI), Kellogg (K), Under Armour (UAA) and Wayfair (W) release earnings before the opening bell.
The following companies will report after the close: Activision Blizzard (ATVI), CBS (CBS), Con Edison (ED), Expedia Group (EXPE), GoDaddy (GDDY), Monster Beverage (MNST), Shake Shack (SHAK), US Steel (X) and US Cellular (USM).
US data on jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
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