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XTO boosts fourth quarter earnings 36% But gross revenues in 2002 slipped 3 percent to $810.2 million; net income slid 25 percent to $186.1 million Allen Baker PNA Contributing Writer
XTO Energy Inc. pushed its gas production 21 percent higher in the fourth quarter, compared to the figure a year earlier, and that led to a 36 percent boost in profits.
The company, based in Fort Worth, Texas, reported earnings of $56.1 million, up from $41.2 million in the same quarter of 2001 and $50 million in the third quarter.
For the year, gross revenues slipped 3 percent to $810.2 million from $838.7 million in 2001. Net income slid 25 percent to $186.1 million from $248.8 million in 2001.
Gas flow was 551 million cubic feet daily in the fourth quarter. That’s a fifth higher than a year ago, when the company was producing 455 million cubic feet. It’s also up 3 percent from the third quarter’s 536 million cubic feet a day. The company says development activity in East Texas and in the Arkoma and San Juan basins pushed the numbers up. Crude flow down, liquids up Oil production continues to slide. XTO brought in 13,024 barrels of crude for each day of the quarter, down 5 percent from the year-ago number. But it was up marginally from the third quarter’s 12,996 barrels.
Gas liquids flowed in larger quantities, though, rising 28 percent to 5,856 barrels daily compared with the 2001 fourth quarter. That production was also up 6 percent from the third quarter of this year.
Average gas price for the period was $3.79 per thousand cubic feet, up 3 percent from a year ago. Oil took a 44 percent jump, however, to an average of $25.84 a barrel, and the price for natural gas liquids rocketed 80 percent to $17.72 a barrel.
Revenues reached $239.3 million, up 31 percent from the year-ago figure of $183.3 million and up 18 percent compared with the third quarter.
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