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Murphy Profit Slips Amid Falling Oil Prices

2 min read

Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado on Wednesday reported a decline in third-quarter profit as oil prices fell amid weaker demand.

The company reported quarterly net income of $245.7 million or $1.37 per share, down about 14 percent from $284.8 million or $1.51 per share in the same quarter last year.

Murphy still beat analysts’ earning estimates. Zack’s Investment Research called for earnings of $1.01 per share.

Adjusted earnings, which exclude results from continuing operations, fell to $205.6 million or $1.15 from $230.4 million or $1.22 in the same quarter last year.

Revenue was $1.43 billion, up from $1.42 billion in the same quarter last year.

Murphy attributed the earnings decline to falling oil prices, citing “lower average realized oil sales prices of near $9 per barrel.”

Bloomberg reported Thursday morning that Brent crude declined to $82.60 a barrel on Oct. 16 from $115.71 on June 19. Meanwhile, U.S. regular unleaded gasoline is averages about $3.01 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA.

During the quarter, Murphy Oil signed an agreement to sell 30 percent of its Malaysia business for $2 billion. It also authorized a $500 million share repurchase program and a 12 percent dividend increase to $1.40 per share.

“The signing of the Malaysia sales agreement marks the value of those long term assets at near $7 billion, and we continue to progress our exit of the downstream business in the United Kingdom,” Roger W. Jenkins, president and CEO, said in a news release.

Murphy Oil has been shedding its business in the U.K. During the quarter, it closed on the sale of its retail gasoline business there and said it “remains on-track” to close the sale of its Milford Haven refinery on Friday.

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