1Q2006

Residual impacts from last year’s Gulf of Mexico hurricanes, higher taxes and a prolonged Texas refinery shutdown sent BP plc’s 1Q2006 net profit down 15% from a year ago, despite higher commodity prices. The London-based major posted a net profit of $5.63 billion, compared with $6.602 billion in 1Q2005.

In an interim update Tuesday, ConocoPhillips said higher production in the Lower 48, Australia and Venezuela won’t be enough to lift 1Q2006 production on a boe/d basis above output in the final quarter of 2005. The Houston-based producer also said it expects crude prices to be higher than in the previous quarter, up to $61.75/bbl from $56.90, while natural gas prices will drop to $9.01/Mcf (Henry Hub) from $13.

A software glitch led Oneok to reduce its 2005 net income by $8.1 million (8 cents/share) and its energy services operating income by $13.2 million and raise its 1Q2006 earnings by similar amounts.

Chevron Corp. expects to restaff its downtown New Orleans office by the end of 1Q2006. The 750 employees who worked there were evacuated when Hurricane Katrina struck the city last August. Melody Meyer, vice president of Chevron’s Gulf of Mexico business unit, said the move back to the city was a “key milestone” for the company. “There is a strong feeling of homecoming for the employees who have already returned. Having our employees once again working together in New Orleans provides a sense of return to normalcy.” Most of the company’s New Orleans-based employees continued to live and work in Louisiana following the massive storm. Many of those displaced worked out of a Chevron office in Lafayette, LA, where the company built a temporary housing complex for employees and their families. In October, Chevron opened a temporary office in Madisonville, LA, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.