DALLAS – Exxon Mobil racked up its biggest-ever quarterly profit, reporting that third-quarter net income surged 74.6%, to $9.9 billion, on high oil and natural-gas prices.

Yet the world’s biggest energy company sought to downplay its banner results. Amid growing political pressure in Washington for the oil industry to return some of its profits to the public, Exxon didn’t even mention in a public statement accompanying its earnings announcement that its quarterly take was a record.

In the statement, Exxon Mobil’s chairman and chief executive, Lee Raymond, explained that the third-quarter results were tempered by the recent hurricanes, stressed that his company “acted responsibly” in pricing gasoline at company-operated filling stations in the wake of the storms, and cautioned that “reduced volumes and higher costs” will “impact” Exxon’s earnings in the fourth quarter.

The Irving, Texas, energy giant said quarterly earnings rose to $9.9 billion, or $1.58 per diluted share, from $5.7 billion, or 88 cents a share, in the year earlier period. That surpassed Exxon’s prior record quarterly take of $8.4 billion in last year’s fourth quarter.