Oceaneering International profit falls 40 percent in second quarter
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/07/22/oceaneering-international-profit-falls-40-percent-in-second-quarter/#31744101=0
Oceaneering International’s profit fell 40 percent in the second quarter as its fleet of more than 300 underwater robots found less work at offshore oil-industry projects compared to last year.
The Houston company, which deploys remotely operated vehicles to deep-sea oil-drilling sites, wrote down the value of its inventory of oil field equipment by $9 million after it chose to stop manufacturing control systems for blowout preventers, the emergency valves that guard against oil spills thousands of feet in the ocean. It also took a $6 million loss on foreign currency exchange fluctuations.
Oceaneering’s net income was $65 million, or 66 a share, in the second quarter, down from $110 million, or $1.02 a share, in the same April-June period last year. Revenues fell from $927 million to $810 million.
In a written statement, Oceaneering CEO, M. Kevin McEvoy, said even though sales from its ROV business, subsea products line and other units were down, the earnings exceeded the company’s expectations and would have been higher than in the first quarter if not for the asset write-down.
“This was attributable to performances from our ROV and subsea products segments,” he said. “ROV benefitted from better-than-expected revenue per day on hire due to more vessel work, and subsea projects profited from higher U.S. Gulf of Mexico demand for deep-water intervention and diving services.”
He said weak demand prompted the company to stop manufacturing blowout preventer control systems but it will still provide after-market parts for the units it has already installed. The company put three new ROVs in the field and retired another three. It had a total of 336 ROVs in its fleet.
The company’s outlook for the second half of the year is “down somewhat from last quarter’s guidance,” McEvoy said, noting the company expects its subsea products unit and ROV business to see lower earnings.
“We believe our cash flow and liquidity position us well to manage our business through the current low commodity price environment,” McEvoy said. “Longer-term, deep-water is still expected to continue to play a critical role in global oil supply growth required to replace depletion and meet projected demand.”
Oceaneering shares fell $1.40 on Wednesday to $38.82 a share on the New York Stock Exchange as the price of U.S. crude fell to its lowest point in three and a half months. The company reported its earnings after the market closed.
Bankrupt oil company wants payments back
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/07/22/bankrupt-oil-company-wants-payments-back/#31510101=0
The city of Homer is filing a response to a request from an oil company seeking the return of thousands of dollars in previous payments to businesses.
The Homer News reports Australian company Buccaneer Oil filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of last year. The city, Homer Electric Association and several business received letters from the company’s trustee saying preferential payments made to them in the 90 days before the bankruptcy filing had to be returned.
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