By Rob Curran

Murphy Oil booked a drop in third-quarter earnings and revenue as oil prices retreated, but the company forecast stable production activity and drilled new wells off the shore of Vietnam.

The Houston exploration-and-production company, which traces its roots back more than 100 years, posted earnings of $139.1 million, or 93 cents a share, down from $255.3 million, or $1.63 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain one-time items, Murphy Oil posted adjusted earnings from continuing operations of 74 cents a share, handily beating the average Wall Street target of 64 cents a share.

Third-quarter revenue fell 21% to $758.3 million, just shy of the mean analyst target of $760 million. The price of oil was down sharply from a year earlier.

Murphy Oil said it produced 185,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the period, including 88,000 barrels of oil per day.

During the quarter, Murphy launched a two-well exploration expedition off the coast of Vietnam.

For the fourth quarter, Murphy forecast production of 181,500 to 189,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

For 2024, Murphy reiterated its capital-expenditure target in a range between $920 million and $1.02 billion. For the full year, Murphy now anticipates production in a range between 180,000 and 182,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with about 50% of the total comprised of oil. As previously disclosed, the company expects to be at the lower end of the production range due to operational issues in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Terra Nova oilfield off the shore of Canada, where it has a non-operating interest.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2024 06:30 ET (11:30 GMT)

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