May. 9, 2003. 01:00 AM JEFFREY JONES <a href=www.thestar.com>Toronto Star-REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

CALGARY—EnCana Corp., North America's biggest oil explorer, says first-quarter profit surged nearly eight-fold due to sky-high oil and gas prices and hefty gains from the sale of pipeline assets.

"Strong growth in sales of conventional oil and natural gas combined with robust commodity prices produced exceptionally strong financial results," EnCana's president and CEO Gwyn Morgan said yesterday.

"With the outlook for a continuation of very strong gas pricing fundamentals, EnCana is extremely well positioned to capitalize on a production mix that is leveraged two-thirds to North American natural gas."

EnCana, created a year ago in the Canadian oil industry's largest merger, has garnered $2.7 billion in proceeds from the sale of pipelines and its stake in the Syncrude Canada oil sands venture, and investors are awaiting details on how the war chest will be used.

The company likely is sizing up acquisitions outside its biggest operating regions in Canada and the U.S. Rockies, Peters & Co. Ltd. analyst Brian Prokop said.

"I think they need to get some international assets, and safe international assets," Prokop said. "There's a lot of stuff coming up in the North Sea and they have a significant project there — that's a safe way to go."

EnCana, which also operates in Ecuador and explores in other regions, has already cut debt to well under one year's worth of cash flow and has bought back some stock.

In the quarter, it earned $1.3 billion, or $2.57 a share, up from a year-earlier $163 million, or 34 cents.

The prior-year figures are presented as if PanCanadian Energy's takeover of Alberta Energy, completed in April, 2002, to create EnCana, took place at the start of that year.

The most recent profit included an after-tax gain of $263 million from the sale of the Express and Cold Lake, Alberta, pipelines and another $193 million gain from the impact of the strong Canadian currency on U.S.-dollar denominated debt.

Excluding the one-time items, earnings were $790 million, or $1.63 a share, beating an average $1.54 a share forecast by analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

Cash flow, a glimpse into an oil company's ability to fund projects, more than doubled to $1.8 billion, or $3.80 a share, from $779 million, or $1.61 a share.

EnCana joined a long list of oil companies that have pumped out huge profits in the quarter after crude prices jumped 55 per cent as markets feared supply disruptions before the U.S.-led war in Iraq and during a protracted strike in Venezuela that crippled exports from the OPEC member.

As one of North America's biggest natural gas producers, EnCana also was buoyed by prices for that commodity, which more than doubled due to a cold winter and depleting inventories.

First-quarter conventional oil and gas sales increased 10 per cent, averaging the equivalent of 735,836 barrels of oil a day.

Of that, natural gas sales rose 11 per cent to more than 3 billion cubic feet a day.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Thursday, May 08, 2003 By: David Coleman

According to local media reports, the Exxon Mobil Corporation says it may go ahead with a $2 billion plastics joint venture with Venezuelan state petrochemical company, Pequiven. Exxon Mobil Venezuelan executive Mark Ward is quoted as saying that the company wants to resume talks on an agreement which has been under study for the last seven years.

"We are re-establishing contact with the new Pequiven leadership and we are waiting for Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the Energy & Mines (MEM) Ministry to sit down and negotiate.''

The proposed plastics JV is said to be a key part of Venezuela's plans to raise petrochemical output and to reduce dependence on crude oil exports ... Pequiven and Exxon Mobil will each have a 49% stake in the project with the remaining 2% reserved for financiers.

According to an already released plan, the new plant could be located at the Jose petrochemical complex due west of Puerto La Cruz and would use natural gas from eastern oil fields as feedstock, or raw material. It would be centered around a 1 million metric tonnes a year ethylene cracker unit and would convert the resulting ethylene into 750,000 metric tonnes of polyethylenes and 420,000 metric tons of ethylene glycols.

<a href=www.thestar.com>Toronto Star May. 8, 2003. 07:11 AM

CALGARY—Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the country's Number 3 oil explorer, said yesterday first-quarter profit quadrupled due to sky-high oil and gas prices that have led to stellar results across the industry.

Canadian Natural, with operations at home, in the North Sea and offshore west Africa, also said it was proceeding with engineering work on its $8.5 billion Alberta oil-sands project while pressing Ottawa for more details on the long-term impact of the Kyoto climate change accord on costs.

It earned $428 million, or $3.19 a share, in the quarter, up from year-earlier $99 million, or 81 cents a share. That handily beat the average earnings estimate of $2.35 a share among analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

Cash flow, giving a glimpse into an oil company's ability to fund development, was $906 million, or $6.76 a share, up from $359 million, or $2.95 a share.

Canadian Natural, the biggest of several companies that count Calgary financier Murray Edwards as a major investor, joined a raft of oil firms with huge first-quarter profit.

Results were driven by oil prices that jumped 55 per cent as markets fretted over supplies ahead of the Iraq war and during a protracted strike in Venezuela that crippled exports from the OPEC producer.

North American natural gas prices more than doubled due to cold winter weather and depleting inventories.

The stock fell 20 cents to $50.20 in Toronto yesterday. It has risen 25 per cent in the past year, outpacing the TSX oil group, which is up 12 per cent.

Chairman Allan Markin said his company completed its busiest-ever drilling program in the quarter with 749 wells and a 94 per cent success rate.

Canadian Natural produced 1.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, up from year-earlier 1.1 billion. Oil and gas liquids output averaged 237,560 barrels a day, up from 188,439.

Volumes increased in North America, off Ivory Coast and in the North Sea, where it acquired additional stakes in some of its projects, it said.

It said it expects production to average 1.28 billion to 1.3 billion cubic feet a day of gas in 2003, 240,000 to 260,000 barrels of oil and gas liquids a day.

Canadian Natural said it was working with the Canadian government to determine the costs of implementing Kyoto after 2012 as it moved toward a decision on the 232,000 barrel a day Horizon oil-sands development in northern Alberta.

The company said it was optimistic it would get necessary assurances before deciding on major spending in 2004.

By Jad Mouawad and Tom Cahill

Paris, May 6 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Total Fina Elf SA, Europe's third- largest oil company, said first-quarter profit jumped 49 percent after prices surged amid a war in Iraq and disruptions in supplies from Nigeria and Venezuela.

Net income rose to 2.12 billion euros ($2.4 billion), or 3.28 euros a share, from 1.43 billion euros, or 2.13 euros, last year, Chief Financial Officer Robert Castaigne said in an interview. Sales rose 19 percent to 28.3 billion euros.

Oil companies such as Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Exxon Mobil Corp. have posted record profits in the first quarter as crude oil prices climbed to a 12-year high. Prices have fallen by about a third since February, signaling earnings are poised to slide, analysts have said.

Total shares rose as much as 1.1 euros to 123.9 euros on the Paris stock market. The stock has lost 9 percent this year, compared with a 2 percent drop for the Paris benchmark CAC 40 index. Shell has lost almost 5 percent in London.

Unlike its larger rivals, Total's results were crimped by a drop in the dollar, Castaigne said. A stronger euro reduces the profit from dollar-based oil sales.

`Sensitive' to Dollar

Our company is very sensitive to the dollar,'' he said. When there is a decrease of the dollar by 10 percent, our earnings also decrease by 10 percent.''

The Paris-based company repeated a forecast that production will grow by 5 percent this year, after a 10 percent growth rate in 2002. The company holds its annual shareholders meeting today and plans to change its name to Total SA.

Oil and gas production in the first quarter rose by 5 percent, equaling 2.516 million barrels a day, the company said. Total is on track to invest 8.7 billion euros in its operations this year, it said.

Oil prices advanced over recent months on concern a war in Iraq would disrupt supplies from the Persian Gulf. That boosted profitability from pumping oil, while its refining unit benefited from declining inventories. Crude oil in New York averaged $33.75 a barrel in the first quarter, compared with $21.59 in the same period a year earlier.

Total Fina was expected to report profit of 2.06 billion euros, according to the average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Last Updated: May 6, 2003 03:20 EDT

Tue May 6, 2003 02:58 AM ET

PARIS (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - French oil firm TotalFinaElf posted a forecast-beating 49 percent rise in first quarter profits on Tuesday on a surge in crude and fuel prices fueled by war and civil unrest in key oil producer nations.

One dealer said the results were "top end across the board" -- reflecting similar outperformance throughout the industry in results last week.

Total's net earnings improvement to 2.12 billion euros was at the top end of analysts' forecasts but trailed those of super majors BP, Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon Mobil which all reported record earnings doubled or more from a year ago.

Analysts expected net profit to come in at 2.04 billion euros with forecasts in a 1.9-2.17 billion euro range. War in Iraq, strikes in Venezuela and civil unrest in Nigeria disrupted supplies and forced the price of oil and fuel higher.

The company's production growth also contributed to the better result, helping to offset a poor performance from its chemicals business.

The world's fourth largest oil group by stock market value which reports in euros, is more exposed to a weaker dollar than the big three, and benefits less directly from strong crude oil.

SHORTER NAME, STRONGER GROWTH

Later on Tuesday, TotalFinaElf is set to drop the second part of its name, acquired in recent years through the acquisition by Total of Belgium's Fina and Elf of France.

With its name shortened to Total, the company is still delivering better output growth than the other three, at five percent in the quarter.

It reaffirmed its target of five percent growth for 2003 as a whole, compared with flat to three percent among the other supermajors.