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Unocal earnings rebound as prices mask flow decline
Allen Baker PNA Contributing Writer
Unocal Corp. posted earnings of $96 million for the fourth quarter, rebounding from a loss a year earlier of $29 million. The recent quarter’s figure was down slightly from $99 million in profits for the third quarter of 2002.
Adjusted operating earnings, after subtracting various charges, were $123 million for the quarter, double the $58 million posted a year earlier.
For the year, net earnings for the El Segundo, Calif., company were $331 million, just over half of the $615 million in profits for 2001.
Slim Alaska earnings Alaska didn’t make much of a contribution in either the quarterly or the annual profit numbers.
Alaska natural gas sales dropped in half to $7 million for the fourth quarter as production dropped to 68 million cubic feet from 101 million and the average price sank back to $1.20 from $1.57. Crude brought $56 million, down $3 million, for 23,000 barrels a day, down from 26,000, while prices rose to $26.96 a barrel from $22.36.
Altogether, Alaska products sold for $63 million. With expenses of $62 million, that left just $1 million in quarterly profit. In the same quarter a year ago, the Alaska operations contributed $10 million in profit.
For the year, Alaska operations of Unocal merely broke even, losing money in the first half of the year and making it up in the last half. By contrast, Alaska contributed $87 million to Unocal’s profits in 2001.
Expenses climb Alaska operating expense per barrel of oil equivalent rose to $20 in the final quarter of 2002, compared with $16 in the same quarter of 2001. Most of the increase came in the depletion, depreciation and amortization column, but exploration expenses, production expenses, and dry hole charges added together ate up a dollar a barrel as well.
Unocal’s worldwide production for the fourth quarter was 451,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily, down 9 percent from 497,000 a year earlier. Daily domestic production slid 56,000 BOE to 223,000 BOE, while international flows increased.
Average worldwide price for crude was $25.28 a barrel, up 35 percent from $18.77 in the fourth quarter of 2001. Natural gas brought in $3.02 per thousand cubic feet, up 25 percent from $2.42.
Revenues for the quarter rose 25 percent to $1.57 billion from $1.26 billion a year earlier and $1.29 billion in the third quarter of 2002. But for the year, revenues shrank 22 percent to $5.25 billion from $6.75 billion.
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