With oil prices down, ConocoPhillips in Alaska is reporting a big drop in earnings in the last three months of the year but an increase in capital investments. Despite the late-year earnings drop, ConocoPhillips in 2014 still made more than $2 billion in Alaska.
Conoco reported Thursday that its adjusted fourth-quarter Alaska earnings in 2014 were $379 million. That is down from the $555 million collected during the same period a year earlier, when oil prices averaged $104 a barrel, according to a report filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Conoco's earnings before taxes in the most recent quarter were reported at $497 million.
Conoco is the only one of the state's three largest oil producers to separately report income. ExxonMobil and BP report their Alaska performance combined with other operations around the world, making it difficult to know their profits in Alaska.
Overall in 2014, Conoco in Alaska reported net earnings of $2.1 billion. That is down slightly from the $2.2 billion it reported making in 2013.
Supporters of the state's controversial oil tax rewrite, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2014, have said it has led to more investment.
That investment can be a double-edged sword for Alaska, potentially leading to more oil production in the long run but reducing what's available to be taxed under the state's net profits tax. Low oil prices are another big factor. With oil prices now below $50 a barrel, Alaska expects to lose $3.5 billion annually this year and next.
Conoco reported capital spending of $1.6 billion in Alaska last year. That is $420 million more than the company reported spending in 2013.
As for capital spending in the fourth quarter, Conoco reported investing $390 million in Alaska in the period – when oil prices averaged $74 a barrel. That investment is up from $304 million a year earlier during the same period, according to the SEC report.