Energy

Marathon Oil Meets Profit Estimates, Beats on Revenues

Paul Ausick

Published: February 17, 2016 4:48 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 1:04 pm

Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 results after markets closed Wednesday. For the quarter, the oil & gas production company posted an adjusted diluted net loss per share of $0.48 on revenues of $1.48 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported a break-even quarter on revenues of $2.5 billion. Fourth-quarter results compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for a net loss of $0.48 on revenues of $1.17 billion.
For the year Conoco posted an adjusted net loss of $1.28 per share and revenues of $5.86 billion. In 2014 the company posted earnings per share of $2.53 and revenues of $11.26 billion. Analysts were expecting a net loss of $1.29 and revenues of $5.61 billion.

On a GAAP basis the quarterly loss per share totaled $1.17 and the full-year loss per share totaled $3.26.

In 2015 Marathon added proved reserves of 247 million barrels of oil equivalent, an organic replacement level of 157% with a finding and development cost of $12 per barrel. Including revisions and excluding dispositions, the reserve replace ration was 89%. The company’s net proved reserves totaled about 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2015.

The company reported $3 billion in capital spending for 2015, about $500 million below its prior estimate.

Marathon did not provide quarterly and fiscal year 2016 guidance in its press release, but analysts are look for a first quarter net loss of $0.52 per share and a full-year net loss of $1.55 per share. Revenue is forecast at $965.2 million for the quarter and $4.75 billion for the year.

CEO Lee Tillman said:

In the fourth quarter, our capital spend and production costs both came in better than expectations. Operational results were supported by a more than 20 percent increase in Oklahoma unconventional volumes while maintaining flat production levels in the Eagle Ford. More recently, we reached a major milestone in Equatorial Guinea with the successful installation of the jacket and topsides for the Alba field compression project, on schedule to start up by mid-year 2016.

Marathon’s shares traded up about 1.5% in Wednesday’s after-hour session at $7.52 in a 52-week range of $6.52 to $31.53. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $15.21 before today’s report.