ChevronTexaco profits fall by two-thirds

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Profits from U.S. exploration and production dropped more than a billion dollars and U.S. refining operations showed a loss as ChevronTexaco Corp. saw its profits drop 70 percent for the quarter.

The company had net income of $725 million, down from $2.43 billion in the same quarter a year ago. It took huge charges in the fourth quarter for merger expenses, but without those, operating earnings were $498 million.

Aside from the low prices that plagued the whole industry, ChevronTexaco had a 4 percent decline in gas flows in the first quarter. Liquids production rose 1 percent to 1,975,000 barrels a day.

U.S. upstream profits were $304 million, down from $1.31 billion a year earlier. International E&P slipped $102 million to $837 million.

Domestic downstream operations showed a $154 million loss compared with a profit of $189 million a year earlier on 35 percent lower prices. The international segment did better, showing a $93 million profit, though that was down 65 percent from $267 million a year ago.

The chemicals business made a modest turnaround, to a profit of $15 million from a $37 million loss in the 2001 quarter, although the joint venture with Phillips still showed a loss.

The company took a $74 million writeoff related to its 26 percent ownership in Dynegy, the trading firm that tried to buy Enron last winter. Merger expenses led to a $132 million expense for severance and other costs of cutting workers.

Revenues were $20.8 billion, down 28 percent from $29 billion in the same quarter last year. Fourth quarter revenues totaled $21.5 billion.