Noble Energy Profit Rises on Gain

HOUSTON -- Oil and gas producer Noble Energy (NE Quote) said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit edged up 1.7%, as a one-time gain related to a mark-to-market change in its financial hedges offset drops in crude oil and natural gas revenue.

Noble earned $305 million, or $1.72 per share, in the last three months of 2008 compared with $300 million, or $1.73 per share, for the same quarter in 2007.

Excluding unrealized gains of $282 million on commodity derivative instruments and $141 million in asset impairments stemming from lower commodity prices, the company posted an adjusted profit of $163 million, or 91 cents per share, for the recent quarter.

Revenue plunged 38% to $573 million from $921 million in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a lower profit of 79 cents per share, excluding the one-time items, on higher revenue of $779.8 million.

Total sales volumes averaged 208,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for the fourth quarter, up 5% from a year ago after adjusting for assets in Argentina sold earlier in the year.

Commodity price realizations fell significantly from the same quarter in 2007. Crude oil and condensate fell nearly 40% to $43.80 per barrel, while natural gas prices dropped 32% to an average of $3.62 per thousand cubic feet.

For the full year, Nobel earned $1.35 billion, or $7.58 per share, up from $944 million, or $5.45 per share, in 2007. Revenue rose to $3.9 billion from $3.27 billion a year earlier.

Its shares rose 53 cents, or 1.1%, to $49.17 in morning trading.