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ConocoPhillips' earnings fall short as tax charges bite
AFP
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 10 26 06
US energy group ConocoPhillips announced a moderate rise in its quarterly profits Wednesday, but its earnings fell short of Wall Street forecasts as it took hits from changes to Britain's and Alaska's tax regimes.
The Texas-headquartered energy group said its net profits for the third quarter rose by 1.8 percent to 3.87 billion dollars, up from 3.80 billion in the same period a year ago.
The company's earnings per share, however, declined to 2.31 dollars per share in the quarter, down from 2.68 dollars per share in the third quarter of 2005.
ConocoPhillips' earnings failed to meet the expectations of most Wall Street analysts who had anticipated earnings of 2.38 dollars per share.
The company said its earnings had also been dented as its production volumes were negatively affected by the partial shutdown of Alaska's vast Prudhoe Bay oil field.
British energy giant BP, which operates the field, had to drastically cut back production at Prudhoe Bay in August after an oil pipeline sprang a leak.
ConocoPhillips is part of the consortium developing the field, the United States' biggest oil field.
"Overall, we had consistent operations for the quarter. We produced 2.47 million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) per day, including an estimated 0.44 million BOE per day from our LUKOIL Investment segment," ConocoPhillips chief executive Jim Mulva said in a statement.
"Upstream results were negatively impacted by the unexpected partial shut-down of the partner-operated Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, as well as planned downtime in other areas," Mulva said.
ConocoPhillips said its earnings for the quarter were affected by a 400-million-dollar charge in relation to new British tax legislation and a further 94-million-dollar charge related to changes in Alaska's tax regime.
Overall revenues for the quarter came to 48.4 billion dollars, down slightly from 48.7 billion a year ago. Analysts had predicted revenues of 53.6 billion dollars.
Exploration expenses rose to 197 million dollars in the quarter from 140 million dollars in the third quarter of 2005.
AFP 251857 GMT 10 06
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