Wiser Oil’s 2003 net income falls

Ray Tyson

Petroleum News Houston correspondent

Wiser Oil’s 2003 net income took a beating during the 2003 fourth quarter due primarily to impairments on Canadian reserves, the company said. Wiser also came up short on production versus the same period a year earlier.

Wiser, a small Dallas-based exploration and production independent, posted a 2003 fourth-quarter loss of $26.8 million or $1.73 per share, more than double the $13.1 million loss it reported for the same quarter in 2002, the company said Feb. 24.

Impairment expense associated with proved reserves alone accounted for $24.8 million of the fourth-quarter net loss, with $22.3 million of that amount tied to the company’s Wolverine field in Canada. The impairment was the result of reclassifying certain proved undeveloped reserves to probably status and the removal of additional reserves due to poor performance of its prior-year drilling program, Wiser said.

On the production side, 2003 fourth-quarter output versus a year earlier was down nearly 10 percent to 3 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent, Wiser said, adding that production also fell five percent from the 2003 third quarter’s 5.8 billion cubic feet of equivalent. The company attributed the decrease to property divestitures and natural field declines, as well as to a production shut-in at Hayter in Canada.

Despite losses taken in the 2003 fourth quarter, Wiser’s revenues for full-year 2003 were up 40 percent to $30.6 million, due to higher gas production and higher realized oil and gas prices.