Phillips reports higher fourth-quarter earnings

Monday, January 24th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Bartlesville-AP) -- Officials at Phillips Petroleum say a jump in worldwide oil and gas prices and company cost-cutting helped the company's fourth-quarter earnings increase to $250 million. Bartlesville-based Phillips reported net income of 99 cents a share. That compares with a loss of $210 million or 83 cents a share for the same period in 1998.

Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva says Phillips continued to benefit from cost reductions and strong operations across all business segments. Low oil and gas prices hit the company hard in 1998. Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 1999 were $4.3 billion. That compares to $2.7 billion a year earlier. Phillips eliminated about 16-hundred jobs in 1999 at a cost savings of about $300 million. The company says an additional 100 jobs are expected to be cut in the first half of 2000.