ConocoPhillips 1Q profit rises 13 percent

HOUSTON (AP) _ ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-largest oil and gas producer, on Wednesday said first-quarter profit rose 13 percent as stronger exploration and production results offset a decline

Wednesday, April 26th 2006, 10:33 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) _ ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-largest oil and gas producer, on Wednesday said first-quarter profit rose 13 percent as stronger exploration and production results offset a decline in refining income.

Net income jumped to $3.29 billion, or $2.34 per share for the January-March period from $2.91 billion, or $2.05 per share, in the year-earlier period. Those results were in line with analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Financial.

Earnings from exploration and production rose to $2.55 billion from $1.79 billion. The gains were offset by a decline in refining income, which dropped to $390 million from $700 million a year ago.

Revenue grew to $47.9 billion from $38.9 billion at the same time.

ConocoPhillips churned out 1.93 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day during the quarter. The results do not include production from newly acquired Burlington Resources, since the deal closed at the quarter's end on March 31.

Higher oil prices were partially tempered by lower natural gas prices compared with the fourth quarter.

On the refining side, roughly 85 percent of ConocoPhillips' refining capacity was in use in the first quarter.

``We experienced significant unplanned downtime and heavy refining turnaround activity, due in part to turnarounds we delayed in response to the 2005 hurricanes,'' said Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Mulva.