SAN FRANCISCO -- ChevronTexaco Corp. reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.52 billion, or $2.36 a share, compared with estimated net income of $2.04 billion, or $1.92, a year earlier. The company attributed the loss to asset write-offs and other costs associated with its acquisition of Texaco Inc. Revenue fell by a third to $21.5 billion from $32.3 billion, the company said.
``We made some difficult decisions on investment priorities for the combined asset portfolio following the merger,'' Chief Executive Officer David O'Reilly said in a statement. ``Many of these investment and operating decisions had unfavorable impacts on fourth-quarter earnings.''
Like other integrated oil companies, ChevronTexaco was hurt as U.S. oil prices fell 36 percent last quarter from a year earlier and gas prices dropped 59 percent. Combined production profits fell 73 percent to $544 million in the quarter from $2.05 billion a year ago.
Income from ChevronTexaco's refining, marketing and transportation business fell 57 percent to $215 million from $498 million. The company said the amount it made on each barrel of oil it refined fell 45 percent to $24.25 a barrel. Sales of gasoline and refined products fell 3 percent to 1.65 million barrels a day.
The figures exclude sales from Texaco's Motiva and Equilon ventures, which Chevron agreed to sell to get U.S. Federal Trade Commission approval of the Texaco deal. The sale of the ventures to Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Saudi Refining Inc. is expected to close this quarter. ChevronTexaco said it will receive about $2.1 billion from the transaction.
Operating losses from the company's chemical joint venture with Phillips Petroleum Co. rose to $17 million last quarter from $13 million a year earlier because chemical profit margins fell, the company said.
Merger expenses of $1.17 billion included about $700 million for job cuts, $300 million for office relocations and closing of offices, and $150 million from the sale of assets. Without those items, ChevronTexaco said its fourth-quarter earnings would have been $498 million, or 47 cents a share, nearly half analysts’ estimates.
