By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Jan. 31 --- Apache Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Thursday reported drops in fourth quarter earnings caused by falling oil and gas prices.
Apache said record production pushed its 2001 earnings to $704 million, up from $693 million in the prior year. Adjusted for a 10% stock dividend at yearend, Apache earned $4.97/diluted common share, compared with $5.16/share in 2000.
In the fourth quarter, Apache's net income was $74 million, or 53¢/ diluted common share, compared with $252 million, or $1.78/share, in the prior-year period. Per-share results for prior periods were restated to account for the stock dividend.
In 2001, Apache recorded its largest percentage production increase in a decade, as output climbed 32% to 344,130 boe/d. As a result, cash from operations climbed to $1.9 billion, or $13.54/share, despite a 16% decline in oil prices. In 2000, cash from operations was $1.7 billion, or $12.85/share. In the fourth quarter of 2001, cash from operations was $317 million, or $2.31/share, compared with $572 million, or $4.21/share, in the prior-year period.
Apache said its finding and acquisition costs were $5.64/boe, contributing to strong margins in a weaker commodity price environment.
Yearend reserves were 1.27 billion boe, a 17% increase from yearend 2000. The company replaced 314% of its production.
At yearend, debt, including minority interest and net of cash equivalents and investments in US government securities, was 37% of capitalization. Despite net capital expenditures of $2.3 billion in 2001, the debt-to-cap ratio was even with the yearend 2000 ratio.
Anadarko
Fourth quarter earnings for Anadarko were $108 million, or 41¢/dilluted share, vs. $454 million, or $1.75/share in the last quarter of 2000. It noted the decrease reflected sharply lower commodity prices.
Cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter of 2001 were $528 million, or $2.12/share (basic), compared with $931 million, or $3.73/share (basic) in the year-earlier period.
Fourth quarter 2001 sales volumes were 49 million boe, 9% above the fourth quarter of 2000.
For the full year 2001, Anadarko reported a net loss of $188 million, or 75¢/share (diluted), compared with earnings of $796 million, or $4.16/share (diluted) in the previous year. Results for both 2000 and 2001 include the effect of non-cash property impairments.
Anadarko recently said it was taking a $1.7 billion writedown of US oil and gas properties to correct a mistake in its third quarter earnings (OGJ, Jan. 30, 2001).
