Kerr-McGee Corp. lost 50 cents more per share in the second quarter than it originally reported, announcing Friday that “subsequent events” since the quarter ended June 30 will require it to include environmental remediation costs at former plant sites and additional exploration expenses.

The Oklahoma City-based independent revised its second quarter net loss to $58 million, or 58 cents a share — it had reported a net loss of $7.6 million, or 8 cents per share on July 24. Income from continuing operations before special items was revised to $92.1 million, or 92 cents per share; it earlier reported income before special items of $93.6 million, or 93 cents a share (see Daily GPI, July 25). The items will be included in the 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The additional environmental noncash provision of $48.9 million after tax was for remediation of plant sites in several states. The costs primarily relate to activities at discontinued refining operations, including Cushing, OK ($20.5 million after tax); the closed chemical facility in West Chicago, IL ($7.2 million after tax); former forest product plant sites ($8.6 million after tax); remediation at the Henderson, NV site ($4.6 million after-tax); and various other former operating sites ($8.0 million after tax). Including the $8.3-million after-tax charge previously announced, the environmental provision for the second quarter of 2002 totals $57.2 million after tax.

Exploration expenses were increased in the second quarter to $1.5 million after tax, related to drilling activity for the Ana prospect offshore Brazil and the Ewing Bank 956 prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. The drilling is complete, said Kerr-McGee, and both wells were deemed noncommercial. Because the company has not yet filed its second-quarter financial statements with the SEC, accounting rules required the recognition of the portion of dry hole cost that was incurred during the quarter. Total exploration expense for the second quarter was revised to $46.8 million. Additional costs for these two wells of approximately $14 million will be reflected in the third-quarter results, the company said.

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