Houston, TX.
High oil and gas prices led Anadarko Petroleum Corp. to more than double its fourth-quarter profit as sales surged, surpassing Wall Street's expectations.
Separately, Anadarko also announced
a $4 billion capital budget for 2006, which is expected to
deliver production growth of 4 percent to 8 percent. Earnings ballooned to $874
million, or $3.73 per share, from $405 million, or $1.64 per
share, in the prior-year period. Quarterly revenue rose to
$2.25 billion from $1.62 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of $3.35 on sales of $2.09 billion.
"The strength in oil and natural gas prices, along with operational improvements and an accretive share repurchase program, combined to make 2005 a very successful year," said Chairman, President and Chief Executive Jim Hackett in a statement.
Natural gas fetched $9.94 per thousand cubic feet, up from $5.63 a year ago. The company's realized price for crude oil and condensate jumped to $52.16 per barrel from $35.55 in the 2004 quarter.
The price-per-barrel on natural
gas liquids increased to $39.16 from $33.15, as well.
Overall sales volumes were up slightly from the third quarter, Anadarko said,
but declined year over year due to sales of certain assets
during the year.
For the full year, net income expanded to $2.47 billion, or $10.39 per share,
from $1.6 billion, or $6.36 per share, in 2004. Annual revenue
increased to $7.1 billion from $6.08 billion in the prior
year.
Anadarko ended the year with proved reserves of 2.45 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
The company's shares rose $1.89 to close at $105.59 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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