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Petro-Canada profits double; downstream up, breaking industry pattern
Allen Baker, PNA contributing writer
Petro-Canada brought in a very strong quarter as profits more than doubled to C$209 million from C$99 million a year earlier.
Upstream Canadian operations brought in C$194 million in operating earnings, up 53 percent from the third quarter of 2001. International E&P earnings were C$78 as the acquisition of Veba Oil & Gas kicked in.
Liquids production rose to a total of 302,600 barrels a day from 73,900 a year earlier, adding flows from Europe, North Africa and the Near East. Western Canada and oil sands production were up slightly, while Canadian East Coast flows more than doubled as Terra Nova came on stream.
Gas production from Western Canada edged up about 1 percent to 707 million cubic feet daily, and the acquisition brought new international production totaling 155 million cubic feet a day.
Canadian liquids sold for C$41.39 a barrel, up 10 percent, while natural gas was down a bit at C$3.45 per thousand cubic feet in Canada from C$3.66. International liquids were a bit lower at C$39.41, while international gas brought C$4.36.
Strong retail earnings boost downstream Downstream was the big surprise, as the rest of the industry has been showing markedly lower profits in that sector.
But a strong showing in the retail end helped overcome lower refining profits as the Calgary company showed C$58 million in downstream earnings, up 16 percent from C$50 million a year earlier. Refineries ran at 105 percent of capacity and the downstream earnings improved to 1.1 Canadian cents per liter from 1.0 Canadian cents.
Revenues rose 32 percent to C$2.77 billion from C$2.09 billion a year earlier.
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