ConocoPhillips 1Q net income slides after spinoff

HOUSTON (AP) -- Oil and gas company ConocoPhillips said Thursday its net income decreased in the first quarter after it spun off its Phillips 66 refining unit.

ConocoPhillips spun off Phillips 66, its downstream business, during the second quarter of 2012. It said that business was responsible for about $700 million in income during the first quarter of that year. Excluding results from that business the company said its earnings were about the same as they were a year ago.

ConocoPhillips said its net income fell to $2.14 billion, or $1.73 per share, from $2.94 billion, or $2.27 per share, in the 2012 first quarter. Excluding discontinued operations the company said it earned $1.42 per share.

Total revenue fell 10 percent to $14.65 billion, from $16.08 billion the prior year.

Analysts, on average, expected adjusted net income of $1.42 per share, on revenue of $12.79 billion, according to FactSet.

The company is planning to dispose of its interests in business in Algeria and Nigeria businesses and the Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian sea. Those businesses were reported as discontinued operations, and that reduced ConocoPhillips' adjusted earnings by 5 cents per share. It expects $8.5 billion in proceeds from the disposal of those businesses later this year.

The company said total production slipped to 1.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 1.64 million barrels per day a year ago. Production from continuing operations slipped 2 percent to 1.56 million barrels per day. The company's prices for crude oil fell 5 percent to $105.97 per barrel and liquid natural gas prices dropped 22 percent to $42.95 per barrel.

ConocoPhillips narrowed its production guidance for the year: it now expects to produce an average of 1.49 million to 1.52 million barrels of oil equivalent per day for the year, compared to its previous guidance of 1.48 million to 1.53 million barrels per day. It expects to produce 1.44 million to 1.47 million barrels a day in the second quarter.

Shares of ConocoPhillips gained 2 cents to $58.28 shortly after the opening bell.