HOUSTON - Operating earnings soared at Marathon Oil Corp. on rising energy prices.

The Houston-based oil company Jan. 27 said it earned $429 million, or $1.23 a share, on revenue of $14.31 billion in the fourth quarter.

In the previous year, it earned $485 million, or $1.57 a share, on revenue of $11.1 billion. Earnings included a $278 million gain from asset sales.

Excluding items, earnings would have been $415 million, or $1.19 a share, up sharply from $203 million, or 65 cents a share, a year ago.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 93 cents a share, according to Thomson First Call.

Income from exploration and production rose 19 percent to $443 million. The overseas unit saw income rise 67 percent on higher energy prices.

Income in the United States fell 4.4 percent as rising natural gas prices were offset by lower volumes due to weather-related downtime in the Gulf of Mexico and the sale of property.

Refining and marketing income soared to $389 million from $97 million on improved margins, which averaged 9.6 cents a gallon compared to 4.1 cents in the 2003 quarter.

In the 12 months ended Dec. 31, the company earned $1.26 billion, or $3.73 a share, on revenue of $49.91 billion.

In the previous year, it earned $1.32 billion, or $4.26 a share, on revenue of $41.23 billion.

HOUSTON - ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-biggest oil company, said it more than doubled its fourth-quarter income due to high prices for crude and natural gas, and better refining margins.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips reported fourth-quarter net income of $2.43 billion, or $3.44 per share, for the October-December period, up from $1.02 billion, or $1.48 per share, a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had expected fourth-quarter earnings of $3.07 per share.

In trading Jan. 26, ConocoPhillips shares rose $1.20, or 1.4 percent, to $90.10 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $64.62 to $91.22.

Revenues for the quarter were $40.1 billion, compared to $26 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003.

For the year, ConocoPhillips reported net income of $8.13 billion, or $11.60 per share, up from $4.74 billion, or $6.91 per share, in 2003. Revenue in 2004 rose to $136.9 billion from $105.1 billion a year ago.

"Overall, our upstream operations ran well, enabling us to benefit from the strong commodity price environment," Jim Mulva, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The quarter's net income included $74 million, or 10 cents a share, from the company's 10 percent equity investment in Russian oil company Lukoil.

The company produced 1.75 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, including 1.6 million from its exploration and production unit and 150,000 barrels per day from the Lukoil investment. Refining and marketing operations benefited from improved heavy-light crude oil differentials and refineries ran at 94 percent of capacity, excluding Lukoil's impact.

The company's total debt at the close of the fourth quarter was $15 billion, down from $17.8 billion a year ago. Mulva said he expected 2005 production to reach 1.62 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, excluding Lukoil.

DALLAS - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicy-traded oil company, said in January it earned a record $8.42 billion in the fourth quarter and $25.33 billion for all of 2004, as higher prices for oil and natural gas offset a slight decline in production.

Exxon Mobil just missed $300 billion in sales for the year.

The company said it earned $1.30 per share in the October-December period, compared to $6.65 billion, or $1.01 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast a profit of $1.07 per share.

Revenue was $83.36 billion, compared to $65.95 billion a year ago.

The Irving-based oil giant made more in both major ends of its business: the exploration and production of oil and gas, and the refining and selling of finished products.

The impact of the high prices for oil and gas could be seen in the increase in profits despite a 1 percent decline in production of oil and a 2 percent drop in gas production.

Chairman and chief executive Lee Raymond said the company continued its active investment program in the fourth quarter, spending $4.23 billion on capital and exploration projects. That, however, was a decline from $4.36 billion a year earlier.

The full-year earnings amounted to $3.89 per share, compared to $21.51 billion or $3.23 per share in 2003. Excluding an accounting change and one-time gains, the 2004 earnings would have been $25.88 billion or $3.97 per share, compared to $17.03 billion or $2.56 per share a year earlier.

Revenue in 2004 rose to a record $298.03 billion from $247.74 billion.

HOUSTON - Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Jan. 28 posted a 38 percent surge in fourth-quarter profit, but warned that 2005 sales volume will be below 2004 levels.

The Houston-based oil and natural gas company also raised its dividend 4 cents, or 28 percent.

Net income came to $405 million, or $1.64 a share, in the latest quarter, up from $294 million, or $1.17 a share, a year earlier.

However, the latest results included charges on an impairment in Qatar operations and a raft of charges, such as the repurchase of debt and the sale of properties.

The charges hurt earnings by $96 million, or 39 cents a share. Excluding items, Anadarko said it would have posted earnings of $501 million, or $2.04 a share.

Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting fourth-quarter earnings of $1.86 a share.

Revenue rose 25 percent in the latest quarter to $1.6 billion from $1.28 billion.

A quarterly dividend of 18 cents, up from 14 cents, will be paid March 23 to shareholders of record as of March 9.

For 2004, net income came to $1.6 billion, or $6.36 a share, compared with $1.29 billion, or $5.09 a share, in 2003.

Full-year revenue rose to $6.07 billion from $5.23 billion a year before.

The company sold 46 million barrels of oil equivalent, down from 49 million BOE in 2003, but in line with its October projection. Property sales reduced production by about 5 million BOE.

The average price per thousand cubic feet of gas rose 32 percent to $5.58 from $4.23, while the average price of a barrel of oil rose 36 percent to $34.48 from $25.28.

For 2005, the company anticipates total sales of 159 million to 164 million BOE, down from 190 million BOE for all of 2004.

- Compiled from The Associated Press