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To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (63849)	10/29/2004 2:06:26 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Nexen to buy EnCana unit for $2.1B ______________________________________ by Peter Moreira TheDeal.com Updated 11:19 AM EST, Oct-29-2004 Calgary, Alberta-based oil and chemical company Nexen Inc. agreed Friday, Oct. 29, to buy a U.K.-based subsidiary of crosstown rival EnCana Corp. for $2.1 billion in cash to expand into the British sector of the North Sea. The two Albertan oil giants said in statements that the deal, which they expect to close Dec. 1, will give Nexen the EnCana (U.K.) Ltd. stakes in the Buzzard, Scott and Telford fields in the North Sea and interests in about 740,000 undeveloped acres of exploratory blocks. The Buzzard field is expected to reach peak production of about 80,000 barrels a day in 2007, while Scott and Telford now produce about 19,000 barrels of oil and gas per day, said the Nexen statement. Nexen, formerly called Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd., said it would finance the deal with $600 million in cash on hand and bridge financing from a lender. It will eventually reduce the debt by cash flow, said Canada's fourth-largest oil explorer. EnCana, North America's leading independent oil and gas explorer, said it also plans next year to sell interests in Ecuador and the Gulf of Mexico, so all of its production will be from onshore North American fields. It said it plans to record an after-tax charge of more than $1 billion for the sale of its U.K. assets. It will pay no tax on the U.K. divesture and use the proceeds of all the disposals to reduce debt and buy back stock. Deutsche Bank AG advised Nexen.

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (63849)	10/29/2004 2:14:04 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

jw: The Big Oil Giants are making money like there's no tomorrow...won't last forever though... _____________________________________ Exxon Mobil's Profit Increases 56% Amount of Money Spent On Exploration Declines, As Supply Concerns Mount By JEFFREY BALL Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL October 29, 2004; Page A2 Rising oil and natural gas prices sent Exxon Mobil Corp.'s third-quarter profit soaring, but the world's biggest publicly traded oil company said it spent less of its growing cash hoard on finding and producing new stores of energy. Exxon Mobil said its third-quarter net income jumped 56% to $5.68 billion, or 88 cents a share, from $3.65 billion, or 55 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding a $550 million charge taken to cover its exposure in a lawsuit brought by thousands of gas-station operators, Exxon Mobil's earnings would have been $6.23 billion, or 96 cents a share, the Irving, Texas, company said. Revenue jumped 28% to $76.38 billion from $59.84 billion. At a time of mounting concern about whether producers can provide enough oil to satisfy rising global demand, Exxon Mobil said its oil production inched up 1% from the year-earlier quarter. Rising oil production from new fields in West Africa and Norway was partially offset by declines in older fields. Similarly, natural-gas production ticked up 1.3% to 8.4 billion cubic feet per day from 8.3 billion cubic feet per day a year earlier as higher volumes from Europe and Qatar were weighed down by declines in older fields, among other factors, the company said. Tom Cirigliano, an Exxon Mobil spokesman, said the company remains on track to achieve an average increase in oil and gas production of about 3% annually this year and through the rest of the decade. Exxon Mobil's results reflected good times throughout the oil industry. Separately yesterday, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which announced a sweeping restructuring, said its quarterly net income more than doubled to $5.4 billion. BP PLC said this week its third-quarter net income8 nearly doubled to $4.48 billion. As of 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Exxon Mobil shares fell 34 cents to $48.61. Exxon Mobil said it spent $3.01 billion in the third quarter to buy back 65 million shares of its stock, returning some of its abundant cash to investors. However, in another industry trend that worries some analysts and investors, Exxon Mobil said its capital expenditures declined 5.5% to $3.63 billion from $3.84 billion a year earlier. For Western oil companies, the challenge is that much of the world's remaining big stashes of oil and gas are in places that are difficult to enter, either because of political unrest, as in Africa, or because government-affiliated oil companies dominate, as in the Middle East. Still, Lee Raymond, Exxon Mobil's chairman and chief executive, said that Exxon Mobil continues to have an "active investment program." Despite the quarterly spending decline, Mr. Cirigliano said, Exxon Mobil continues to expect its capital expenditures for all of 2004 to be about flat with last year's level of $15.5 billion. The company posted improved results across all its businesses. Earnings in the company's exploration and production operations rose 45% to $3.93 billion, buoyed by higher oil and gas prices. Chemicals earnings more than tripled to $1.01 billion, on higher margins and sales volumes. Earnings in its refining and marketing segments fell 6.6% to $851 million. Without the $550 million lawsuit-related charge, the businesses' earnings would have risen 54% to $1.4 billion. The charge followed a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month that let stand a lower-court ruling that the oil company deprived thousands of gasoline-station operators of money it owed them under a program to encourage discounts for cash-paying customers. Write to Jeffrey Ball at jeffrey.ball@wsj.com9