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Earnings double for Murphy; on higher prices, oil volumes
Allen Baker, PNA contributing writer
Murphy Oil Corp. had sharply higher earnings for the fourth quarter as higher prices and more oil flow overcame lower gas volumes and a loss in the refining segment.
The El Dorado, Ark., company reported earnings of $57.6 million, up from $28.8 million a year earlier and also up from $37.1 million in the third quarter of 2002.
For the year, however, Murphy had a profit of $111.5 million, just a third of the $330.9 million earned in 2001. This year’s fourth quarter included adjustments due to a writedown of $14.6 million on some properties and a gain of $10.6 million on the sale of a unit in the Gulf of Mexico.
Record liquids production Liquids volume for the month, not including the unit sold, reached 81,559 barrels daily, up 17 percent from the 2001 quarter and the highest total the company has ever attained. Oil from the Terra Nova field off Canada’s eastern coast made the difference. That field wasn’t producing a year ago.
Gas volumes dipped 14 percent to 251 million cubic feet daily, again from continuing operations. Higher prices helped the results. Crude brought an average of $25.52, up 51 percent from $16.90 a year earlier. North American gas averaged $3.73 per thousand cubic feet, up 58 percent from $2.36 in 2001’s fourth quarter.
Overall, upstream income was $57 million, up from $16.4 million in the last quarter of 2001.
But refining and marketing operations lost money to the tune of $4.4 million, compared with income of $15.1 million a year ago. Like other refiners, Murphy was caught in the squeeze between high crude prices and comparatively low prices at the pump.
Revenues totaled $1.08 billion for the fourth quarter, up 42 percent from $761 million a year ago, but down from $1.15 billion in the third quarter of 2002. For the year, revenues were up 1 percent to $3.92 billion.
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