ChevronTexaco tonight reported a quarterly profit, reversing a year-ago loss, but the results were weaker-than-expected as its oil and natural gas production fell sharply.
The second-largest US oil company - which owns 26.5 per cent of troubled Dynegy - reported fourth-quarter net income of $904 million, or 85 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $2.52 billion, or $2.38 a share, a year ago when it took a number of write-downs.
However, excluding charges for special items and the company's merger, the San Francisco company reported earnings of $1 a share in the fourth quarter of 2002, or about 22 per cent below consensus estimates on Wall Street.
ChevronTexaco's stock, which fell 4 per cent in the quarter, was down 3 per cent early in the day before recovering.
Chairman and chief executive Mr Dave O'Reilly in a statement called fourth-quarter and full-year results "unsatisfactory" adding that the company "operated under weak global market conditions in our refining and marketing sector."
Like much of the industry, robust oil and gas prices boosted the company's exploration and production results, which rose 125 per cent from a year-ago to $1.2 billion.
But the rise in profit was marred by concerns about ChevronTexaco's failure to increase its oil and gas production - a key measure of future prospects for oil companies.
Hurt by factors such as OPEC quotas and tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico, worldwide oil and gas production in the quarter dropped 6 per cent to 2.6 million barrels a day.
The company - which earlier this week said spending this year will fall 12 per cent to $8.5 billion - also warned on a conference call it is unlikely to meet its target of 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent annual production growth by 2006.