Twenty-four major energy companies operating in the U.S. reported “significantly higher” overall corporate net income for the fourth quarter of 2003 and for the entire year compared to 2002, due mostly to higher oil and natural gas prices, according to a new report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Corporate-wide net income for the companies in the final quarter jumped 43% to $10.1 billion from $7 billion in the comparable period in 2002, while net income for the entire 2003 catapulted 98% to $42.6 billion from $21.5 billion for 2002, the Department of Energy (DOE) agency said in its report. Revenue rose 17% to $182.8 billion for the fourth quarter, and 33% to $714.4 billion for 2003.

The EIA credited the favorable results to a 28.3% rise in natural gas wellhead prices to $4.62/Mcf in 2003, and a 9.4% hike in the refiner acquisition cost of imported crude oil to $27.80 last year.

Earnings from worldwide oil and gas production operations rose 27% to $10.2 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, with net income from domestic operations slightly eclipsing foreign operations in the period, according to the EIA. Net income from domestic oil and gas production posted a 5.8% gain to $3.9 billion in the 2003 fourth quarter and an increase of 62% to $19.4 billion for the entire year. Net income from foreign production saw a 7.1% rise to $3.87 billion in the final quarter and a gain of 28.9% to $15 billion for 2003.

The companies’ U.S. gas production took a nose-dive during the fourth quarter 2003, falling by 2.5% to 20.1 Bcf/d, the EIA reported. For the entire year, U.S. gas production slipped 0.9% to 20.9 Bcf/d, it noted.

At the same time, domestic oil production decreased 2.2% to 3,728 thousand barrels per day (bpd) in the fourth period of last year, and dropped 2.4% to 3,808 thousand bpd for all of 2003, the EIA report said.

“Asset divestitures by the U.S. majors and naturally occurring declines in field production were among the reasons given for lower [domestic] production,” the agency said.

On the foreign side, producers reported oil production rose 1.4% to 4,832 thousand bpd in the fourth quarter of 2003, and was up 6.7% to 4,751 thousand bpd for the entire year. But foreign natural gas production had a bad fourth quarter, with production falling 1.8% to 18.3 Bcf/d.

Earnings from the companies’ worldwide downstream petroleum operations rose by a “comparatively modest 50% (after more than quadrupling last quarter relative to a year earlier) as U.S. refining margins increased but foreign refining margins declined,” the EIA said. Companies reported total refining/marketing net income for the fourth quarter of $1.68 billion (up 49.8%), and a 343% jump to $10.3 billion for the entire year.

Worldwide downstream gas and power earnings fell 13% to $461 million in the fourth quarter 2003 over the year-ago period as unseasonably warmer weather diminished electricity sales, according to the EIA. “Half of the eight companies that reported downstream natural gas and power results recorded lower earnings than a year earlier. This group was dominated by Dominion Resources, which contributed 88% of the Q403 earnings of these four companies for this line of business.”

The four companies that recorded higher downstream gas and power earnings were led by Williams Cos., which accounted for 39% of the group’s earnings in this area in Q403. “Completed expansion projects, increased operations in the deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico, and higher natural gas liquids prices all were cited in company press releases as contributing to higher earnings relative to Q402 for this group of companies,” the agency said.

Although quarterly earnings were depressed, the EIA estimated that 2003 earnings for the downstream natural gas and power business were up 44.7% to $3.05 billion over 2002.

The EIA based its report on the financial results of Amerada Hess Corp., Anadarko Petroleum, Apache Corp., BP (only U.S. operations), Burlington Resources, Chesapeake Energy Corp., ChevronTexaco, Citgo Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, Dominion Resources, EOG Resources, Equitable Resources, ExxonMobil, Kerr McGee Corp., Lyondell Chemical, Marathon Oil, Occidental Petroleum, Premcor Inc., Royal Dutch/Shell Group (only U.S. operations), Sunoco Inc., Tesoro Petroleum, Unocal Corp., Valero Energy, Williams and XTO Energy Inc.

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