Murphy Oil logs $66M quarterly loss; revenue tops forecasts

Graphs showing Murphy Oil third quarter information.
Graphs showing Murphy Oil third quarter information.

Murphy Oil Corp., based in El Dorado, posted a loss of $66 million for its 2017 third quarter, the company said in an earnings report filed after markets closed Wednesday.

Earnings per share fell 38 cents, compared with 8 cents a year ago. Revenue of nearly $498.2 million came in above analysts' expectations.

For the same quarter a year ago, the company reported a loss of $16.2 million. For the nine months of 2017, losses have mounted to $212 million.

Murphy reached a decade-low operating expense of $7.58 per barrel-of-oil equivalent produced, Roger Jenkins, the company's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement filed with the earnings report.

"We have quickly recovered from the impacts of Hurricane Harvey on our Eagle Ford Shale business, as well as issues in third-party midstream and offshore non-operated Canada assets," Jenkins said, referring to the hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast of Texas in September. "I am pleased with our continued cost focus that has helped to maintain our high cash balance through the year."

Murphy maintained $1 billion of cash on its balance sheet while also investing $287 million in capital, Murphy said.

The company said it won on bids for two tracts of oil land in Texas' Midland Basin, where it already leases 31,000 acres at an average per-acre annual cost of $1,700. The company also signed agreements on four exploration blocks off the coast of Brazil.

Production in the third quarter averaged 154,000 barrels of oil per day, down from 163,000 barrels in the same quarter last year.

The company announced an adjusted loss of $6 million, or 3 cents per diluted share.

Murphy Oil Corp. shares rose 64 cents, or 2.4 percent, to close Wednesday at $27.39. Its 12-month high was $34.30 on Dec. 13. The shares rose in after-hours trading.

The company will host an earnings call at 10 a.m. today, at (833) 832-5124. The reference number is 93900185.

Business on 11/02/2017

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