Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado, citing significantly lower sales prices for oil and natural gas and lower earnings from the refining and marketing operations, said late Wednesday that third-quarter net income fell to $188.9 million, less than a third of the $584.4 million earned in the same quarter last year.
The earnings per share of 98 cents was slightly lower than analyst expectations of $1 a share
Revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 fell to $5.2 billion from $8.2 billion.
For the first nine months of 2009, net income totaled $518.8 million or $2.70 a share, compared to $1.61 billion or $8.39 a share for the same period in 2008.
The first nine months of 2009 included income from discontinued operations of $97.8 million or 51 cents a share, which arose primarily from a gain on sale of operations in Ecuador in March 2009. The 2008 period included after-tax gains on sale of Canadian assets totaling $108.3 million or 57 a share, which is included in continuing operations.
"The company added significant production in the third quarter 2009, with the startup of a new area during each month of the quarter," said David M. Wood, president and CEO. "We currently expect earnings in the fourth quarter to be between $0.75 and $0.90 per diluted share. These earnings are based on projected losses of $24.0 million from our refining and marketing business and total exploration expense ranging from $40 to $75 million. Projected results for the fourth quarter could be affected by commodity prices, drilling results, timing of oil sales and refining and marketing margins."
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