WRAPUP 1-Oil company results highlight refining's comeback

* Valero profit tops estimates, BP refining profit triples

* Oxy misses Wall St estimates, hit by output shortfall

* Valero shares down 1 pct, Oxy falls 4 pct

* ConocoPhillips reports Wednesday; Exxon, Shell Thursday

By Braden Reddall

SAN FRANCISCO, July 27 (Reuters) - Buoyant refining margins boosted earnings for Valero Corp (VLO.N) above Wall Street forecasts on Tuesday, while Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N) disappointed investors as its oil production fell short.

Valero's second-quarter profits were helped by a rebound in demand for products such as gasoline and diesel fuel as the economy steadily rebounded and oil prices -- the main cost driver for the industry -- remained stable.

Analysts have forecast refiners profits would rebound in the second quarter as margins at the plants firmed, a trend that was also likely to help the integrated oil giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Chevron Corp (CVX.N) and ConocoPhillips (COP.N), which all combine oil and gas production with refining operations.

Valero, which is the second-largest U.S. refiner after Exxon, but does not produce crude oil, posted a $583 million quarterly profit versus a year-ago loss, and its earnings per share of 93 cents easily topped the 71 cents that analysts had on average forecast. [ID:nN27222794]

But Occidental, which produces oil and gas but does not refine them into consumer fuels, saw profits rise 57 percent to $1.07 billion, or $1.31 per share.

That fell slightly short of analysts' average forecast as its output of 743,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day missed expectations.

That production miss was due to disappointing performance in the Middle East. The company also suffered a loss in its Phibro trading business, which it bought from Citibank late last year. [ID:nN27221239]

Results from BP Plc (BP.L), which announced it would replace CEO Tony Hayward, also showed a rebound in refining profits, which jumped to three times the level of a year ago. [ID:nLDE66Q20C]

Still, refining profit margins appeared to show some weakness in July, which could dampen future earnings unless there was a major supply disruption, one analyst said.

"Product margins have softened so far in 3Q relative to 2Q actuals, which should result in lower (quarter-on-quarter) earnings absent a major hurricane interruption," Bill Herbert, an analyst at Simmons & Co in Houston, said in a note to clients.

BP's rival integrated oil companies are also expected to benefit from refining when they report their quarterly numbers this week. [ID:nN22187480]

ConocoPhillips reports its results on Wednesday, followed by Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) on Thursday and Chevron Corp and Total SA (TOTF.PA) on Friday. (Writing by Braden Reddall; editing by Andre Grenon)