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HOUSTON — Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said Wednesday it lost $338 million in the first quarter because of tumbling energy prices, but the results still beat Wall Street expectations.
Anadarko, one of the nation's largest independent exploration and production companies, said its loss amounted to 73 cents a share for the quarter ended March 31. That compared with a profit of $286 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier.
Adjusted for one-time items, Anadarko said January-March earnings came to a loss of $242 million, or 53 cents a share. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a loss of 62 cents a share. Those forecasts typically exclude special items.
Revenue fell about 46 percent to $1.6 billion from $3 billion a year ago, the suburban Houston-based company said.
Like other oil and gas producers, Anadarko encountered far lower commodity prices in the first three months of 2009 as the recession drove down energy use.
Anadarko said non-cash losses linked to oil and natural gas derivatives in the quarter amounted to $240 million before tax.
The derivatives loss is related to what's known as fair-value accounting, where companies have to periodically update their estimate of what investments are worth based on current market values — a procedure known as "marking to market."
A huge difference from the year-ago quarter was the price of oil and natural gas. Anadarko said its total price for natural gas amounted to $3.26 per thousand cubic feet in the first three months of 2009, compared with $6.17 a year ago.
The price Anadarko got for a barrel of oil tumbled to $40.06 from $78.21.
On a positive note, the company said its first-quarter production of crude, natural gas and natural gas liquids rose nearly 2 percent to 54 million barrels of oil equivalent. Chairman and chief executive Jim Hackett said the company was on track to achieve its full-year production target despite lower capital spending planned for 2009.
"Our portfolio yielded very good operating results during the quarter," Hackett said in a statement. "However, we continue to face a challenging period until we see better alignment between costs and commodity prices."
Company shares rose 72 cents to $48.98 in after-hours trading.
Earlier Wednesday, Devon Energy Corp. also posted a first-quarter loss, which included a $4.2 billion write-down of oil and gas properties related to lower prices. Like Anadarko, however, Devon's adjusted results easily topped Wall Street expectations and the company's shares soared nearly 12 percent to $61.01 in trading Wednesday.
