Murphy Oil Corp., the El Dorado petroleum exploration and production titan, reported Wednesday adjusted first-quarter income of $40 million, or 23 cents per share, on revenue of $607 million.
The figures, for operations through March 31, included income from continuing operations of $169 million, up from $57 million in the same quarter a year ago. The earnings came close to analysts expectations, and revenue from sales to customers was up to $607 million from $509 million in the first quarter of 2017.
The adjusted income figure excludes the results of discontinued operations, an after-tax gain of $120 million associated with the corporate tax cut passed in December, and a $12 million after-tax gain on foreign exchange.
Net cash from continuing operations was $279 million as the company returned 16 percent of operating cash flow to shareholders through dividends and maintained about $2 billion in liquidity, with no borrowing from its credit facility. Production averaged the equivalent of 168,000 barrels of oil a day, with earnings before interest, taxes and amortization.
Roger Jenkins, the company’s president and CEO, said recent improvements in oil prices allowed Murphy to generate free cash flow above its dividend.
“Over the course of the first quarter, we had strong production results from our offshore assets in Malaysia and the Gulf of Mexico and our onshore Canadian assets in the Tupper Montney and Kaybob Duvernay,” Jenkins said in a statement, describing oilfield areas in western Canada. “We were also able to achieve competitive margins across our oil-weighted assets for the U.S. and Malaysia operating areas. We continue to maintain our key balance sheet metrics while delivering on our 2018 plans.”
The company will host a conference call on the first-quarter results at 11 a.m. Thursday. The conversation will be available through the investor relations section of Murphy’s website at murphyoilcorp.com, or by calling 1 (888) 886-7786 and using reservation number 18948426.
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