Refined

Conoco reported record results for the third quarter, as strongprices and margins for refined products and record refinerythroughputs produced net income of $523 million, or $0.83 perdiluted share, double that of third quarter 1999. “Earnings were atrecord levels for the third consecutive quarter, and majordiscoveries were made in Vietnam and the deep-water Gulf ofMexico,” said CEO Archie W. Dunham. “In the North Sea, we completedthe Norsk Hydro producing properties acquisition and broughtonstream the Vixen natural gas field. We also announced agroundbreaking 20-year supply contract to deliver Indonesiannatural gas to Malaysia. Great strides are being achieved inexploration. We are extremely encouraged by the Magnolia appraisalwell currently being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, weunveiled the industry’s most powerful exploration supercomputerthat allows more cost-effective seismic data analysis. In a relatedstep, we began a massive geophysical survey over 2,000 deep-waterblocks in the Gulf of Mexico, using gravity gradiometry technologyonce used exclusively by the military,” he said. The company’s U.S.gas production was down 2% from 3Q99 levels to 826 MMcf/d. Itstotal net worldwide production was down 4% to 619 Mboe/d.