ENERGY

Mobil 4th-Quarter Earnings Surge: Mobil Corp. bucked an industry trend, reporting a 29% increase in fourth-quarter earnings, although earnings for all of 1992 were off 55%. The No. 2 U.S.-based oil company earned $514 million, or $1.25 a share, for the final three months of 1992 on sales of $17.24 billion. That compared to earnings of $400 million, or 97 cents a share, on revenue of $17.17 billion for the same period in 1991. In a statement issued from corporate headquarters in Fairfax, Va., Chairman Allen E. Murray said “exploration and producing earnings were excellent despite worldwide crude oil prices being down by about 75 cents per barrel from the fourth quarter of 1991.”