The New York Times-20080124-Quarterly Profit Rises 37- at ConocoPhillips

Return to: The_New_York_Times-20080124

Quarterly Profit Rises 37% at ConocoPhillips

Full Text (280  words)

Record oil prices helped ConocoPhillips post a 37 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit even though it produced less crude oil and natural gas than a year earlier.

Fourth-quarter net income rose to $4.37 billion, or $2.71 a share, compared with $3.2 billion, or $1.91 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue increased to $52.7 billion from $41.5 billion a year earlier.

Oil prices hovered around $90 a barrel for much of the fourth quarter, more than 50 percent higher than in the year-earlier period. ConocoPhillips was the first major oil company to report fourth-quarter earnings.

In a note to investors, an analyst at Citi Investment Research, Doug Leggate, said earnings excluding one-time items were $2.40 a share -- slightly ahead of analysts' average forecast of $2.38 a share, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

ConocoPhillips shares rose 55 cents, to close at $71.73.

ConocoPhillips said profit at its exploration and production business climbed to $2.61 billion from $2.09 billion in the year-earlier period, helped by higher commodity prices, a tax benefit and the release of escrow funds.

Net income at the refining and marketing business rose to $1.12 billion from $919 million a year earlier, in part because of better refining margins -- the difference between the cost of crude and what the company makes on refined products like gasoline.

Those margins have been hurt as rising oil prices outpaced increases in gasoline prices and other refined products.

Full-year earnings were $11.9 billion, or $7.22 a share, down from $15.5 billion, or $9.66 a share, in 2006. Excluding a $4.5 billion charge in the second quarter to write off huge assets in Venezuela, the company's earnings were $16.4 billion.