El Paso Corp., the nation's largest natural gas pipeline company, on Tuesday posted a slightly wider loss in the fourth quarter than a year earlier as costs related to the sale of pipeline capacity offset gains in its core pipeline and exploration businesses.
But the company, which launched a restructuring 3 1/2 years ago, posted a full-year profit for the first time since 2000.
Quarterly losses after paying preferred dividends were $175 million, or 25 cents per share, versus a loss of $172 million, or 26 cents per share, during the same period in 2005. Per-share results in the 2005 period are based on about 40 million fewer shares outstanding.
Losses from continuing operations narrowed to $15 million, or 3 cents a share, from the year-earlier quarter.
Excluding a charge of $188 million, or 17 cents per share, related to the company's divestiture of capacity on the Alliance Pipeline, and a gain of $13 million, or a penny per share, on gas and oil derivatives, earnings amounted to 13 cents a share.
Revenue rose 12 percent to $913 million -- below the $1.2 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial -- from $814 million a year ago.
El Paso shares fell 41 cents, or 2.8 percent, to close at $14.42 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have traded in a range of $11.80 to $16.39 in the past year.
El Paso has undergone a massive restructuring in the past few years, as it shed billions in assets, including two refineries and a slew of power plants, to focus on running its pipeline network and exploration and production business.
El Paso said last week it had completed the $4.14 billion sale of its ANR Pipeline Co. division, storage assets in Michigan and its 50 percent interest in Great Lakes Gas Transmission to TransCanada Corp. and TC PipeLines LP.
President and chief executive Doug Foshee called 2006 a year of "major accomplishments," citing the return to profitability and record earnings at its pipeline business.
The pipeline outfit's earnings for the three months ending Dec. 31 were $302 million, up from $183 million in the year-ago period, helped in part by new pipeline projects.
The exploration and production segment saw its earnings fall to $137 million from $168 million in the fourth quarter a year ago, when natural gas prices were much higher because of market concerns created by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other factors.
El Paso said its realized price for natural gas in the most-recent three months was $6.15 per thousand cubic feet, down from $6.76 in the fourth quarter of 2005.
For all of 2006, El Paso swung to a profit of $438 million, or 64 cents per share, compared with a loss of $633 million, or 98 cents a share, in 2005. Revenue grew to $4.3 billion from $3.4 billion a year ago.
"We look forward to additional progress in 2007," Foshee said.
http://www.elpaso.com
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