The world’s biggest oil companies are seeing their highest profits in more than a year, an early signal that they may be turning a corner on their long path to recovery. Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM 0.48% on Friday reported its best quarter since 2015, more than doubling profit from the first three months of 2016 when crude prices fell to the lowest level in more than a decade. The company also generated enough cash to pay for new investments and dividends, an increasingly important measure of resilience for big oil companies, which have been piling on debt. Chevron Corp. CVX 1.17% , which reported a quarterly loss last year, on Friday posted a profit of $2.7 billion. The rosy results came a day after French energy company Total SA TOT -0.85% reported a 77% rise. Royal Dutch Shell RDS.B 0.09% PLC and BP BP -0.23% PLC, which will report next week, are expected to show sharp increases.