Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $587.1 million, or $3.41 per share, bringing its net loss for 2015 to $2.27 billion, or $13.03 per share.
The net loss during the fourth quarter includes a non-cash impairment of oil and natural gas properties of $192.2 million, or $123.5 million after taxes; deepwater rig contract exit costs of $282.0 million, or $183.3 million after taxes; and recognition of a U.S. deferred tax charge of $188.5 million associated with a distribution from a foreign subsidiary.
Murphy (NYSE: MUR) realized a hedging gain of $79.4 million before tax from settled crude oil contracts and natural gas forward sales in the full-year 2015, according to a press release.
When adjusted for discontinued operations and other items that affect comparability, the loss for 2015 drops to $536.7 million, or $3.08 per diluted share.
“Despite a major decline in oil prices, 2015 was a good year operationally for Murphy,” said Murphy Oil President and CEO Roger Jenkins in a statement. “We increased our proved reserves even with the inclusion of the 10 percent sell-down of our Malaysian assets. The company’s year-end 2015 reserves to production ratio is 10.2, up from 9.2 a year ago. We remain focused on driving down operating and G&A costs across all segments of our business. The cost reductions better position the company to weather the anticipated ‘lower-for-longer’ commodity price environment.”
Natural Gas Sale
Also Wednesday, Murphy Oil said it had agreed to sell its natural gas processing and sales pipeline assets in its Montney natural gas fields in northeastern British Columbia.
Enbridge G&P Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc., will purchase the assets, in the Tupper and Tupper West areas of the Canadian province, in a $382 million deal.
Murphy Oil said the deal should close early in the second quarter.
In a separate transaction, Murphy Oil agreed to buy a 70 percent operated working interest in some of Athabasca Oil Corp.’s assets in Alberta. The total deal is worth about $337 million.
That deal should close in the first quarter, the company said.
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