Lower oil prices hurt quarterly profits at ConocoPhillips and Hess, but both companies beat Wall Street forecasts.

Conoco, reporting earnings for the first time since shedding its refining and chemicals businesses, saw its oil and gas output slip below its full-year production goal as asset sales, maintenance and curtailed gas production weighed. But the company said its new projects were coming on line as planned.

"I think Conoco operated well in this transition period," said Brian Youngberg, an oil analyst at Edward Jones in Saint Louis. "Their projects are on time and progressing toward operation in the future.

Hess' production in the quarter came in better than expected as its output in North Dakota's Bakken field surged and Libyan production came back on line.

Conoco profit fell 32% to $2.3 billion, or $1.80 per share. Excluding one-time, earnings per share were $1.22, beating analysts' average forecast by 5 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company's oil and gas output for the quarter fell 6% to 1.54 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), below its 2012 target of 1.55 to 1.6 million BOE but matching Wall Street expectations.

"Our production was on target, our major growth projects are on track, and we are continuing to add to our conventional and unconventional exploration inventory," Conoco Chief Executive Ryan Lance said in a statement.

Conoco's average price for crude fell to $105.56 per barrel in the quarter, down $7.39 from a year earlier, while its average natural gas price dropped 20% to $5.50 per thousand cubic feet.

Conoco's quarterly figures included one month of the refining operations, which were split off at the end of April.

Hess' profit in the quarter fell nearly 10% to $549 million, or $1.61 per share.

The New York company's oil and gas production jumped 15% to 429,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Analysts at Barclays had expected 403,000 BOE.

Driving that increase was the jump in production at Hess's properties in the Bakken field, where output rose to 55,000 BOE per day from 25,000 BOE last year.