WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) on Monday reported a better-than-expected increase in third-quarter profit, due mainly to lower income tax provision notwithstanding a decline in revenues amid lower volumes and weak natural gas prices. Nevertheless, revenue for the quarter surpassed expectations.
The company, which has been divesting assets to optimize its portfolio, saw net sales volumes declining to 480 Million Barrels Oil Equivalent Per Day (mboed) during the quarter, compared with 505 mboed a year ago.
While North American price for crude oil improved to $101.05 per barrel from $89.89 per barrel last year, natural gas price dropped to $3.51 per mcf from $3.61 per mcf.
The Houston, Texas based company posted third-quarter net income of $569 million or $0.80 per share, compared with $450 million or $0.63 per share last year.
Results for the recent quarter included after-tax unrealized derivative loss of $39 million.
Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $617 million or $0.87 per share, compared with $454 million or $0.64 per share in the prior year.
On average, 27 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.77 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenue for the quarter dropped to $3.9 billion from $4.2 billion last year. Ten analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $3.8 billion for the quarter.
Provision for income tax was lower at $787 million, compared with $1.3 billion in the prior year.
For the fourth quarter, the company expects net production available for sale in North America E&P of 202-210 mboed. In International E&P excluding Libya, this is expected in the range of 210-218 mboed.
For 2013, the company still expects total production available for sale (excluding Libya) of 410,000 to 425,000 net boed.
Marathon Oil had reached an agreement to sell its 10 percent working interest in the Production Sharing Contract and Joint Operating Agreement in Block 32 offshore Angola to Sonangol E.P. The proposed deal has a value of about $590 million, excluding any purchase price adjustments.
Including the anticipated sale of its interest in Angola Block 32, the company has agreed upon or closed on nearly $3.5 billion in divestitures over the period of 2011 to date.
Among peers, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) reported a third-quarter profit that climbed mainly on strong US sales volumes with revenue growth.
Marathon Oil stock closed Monday at $35.50, up $0.23 or 0.65%, on a volume of 6.8 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock gained $0.66 or 1.86%, to trade at $36.16. In the past year, the share traded in the range of $29.23 - $37.87.
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