WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil and gas company Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) on Monday reported a 24 percent decrease in profit for the third quarter from last year, reflecting lower revenues due to the impact of lower crude oil price realizations that offset higher production. However, adjusted earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' estimates.
Lee Tillman, President and CEO of Marathon Oil said, 'Both our Eagle Ford and Bakken net production delivered double-digit growth compared to the previous quarter. However, lower price realizations offset the impact of higher production volumes in our financial results.'
The company's net sales volumes from continuing operations for the third quarter, excluding Libya, averaged 411,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day or boed, up 8 percent from 382,000 net boed in the year-ago period.
However, North American price for crude oil decreased 11 percent from the year-ago period to $89.65 per barrel, while natural gas price rose 20 percent to $4.21 per mcf.
Houston, Texas based Marathon Oil's net income for the third quarter of $431 million or $0.64 per share, down from $569 million or $0.80 per share in the year-ago period.
The latest quarter's results include an after-tax settlement charge of $14 million in connection with the company's U.S. pension plans, and impairment expense of $70 million due primarily to estimated abandonment cost revisions for Gulf of Mexico assets and lower forecasted commodity prices.
Excluding items, adjusted net income for the quarter was $515 million or $0.76 per share, compared to $617 million or $0.87 per share in the prior-year period. On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.59 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenue and other income for the quarter declined 5 percent to $2.97 billion from $3.13 billion in the same period last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.93 billion for the quarter.
Total costs and expenses for the quarter increased 7 percent from the year-ago period to $2.46 billion. But, provision for income taxes declined 58 percent to $149 million.
Marathon Oil closed the sale of its Norway business on October 15 for about $2.1 billion in proceeds.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Marathon Oil continues to expect growth in North America E&P production available for sale, driven by continued strong growth from the combined U.S. resource plays.
For 2014, Marathon Oil projects narrowed its outlook for combined North America & International production available for sale, excluding Libya, to a range of 350,000 to 360,000 net boed, from the prior range of 345,000 to 360,000 net boed.
However, the company affirmed its full-year production guidance for the OSM segment in a range of 37,000 to 42,000 net barrels per day of synthetic crude oil.
MRO closed Monday's regular trading at $34.57, down $0.83 or 2.34 percent on a volume of 8.41 million shares. In after-hours, the stock gained $0.27 or 0.78 percent to $34.84.
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