Mobil’s Net Dives; Texaco, Chevron Profits Rise

Mobil, the nation’s second-largest oil company after Exxon, on Tuesday reported that its earnings fell 47.8% in the second quarter. Texaco, ranked third, said its profit grew by 29.7%, while No. 4 Chevron said its profit was up by 59.3%.

Mobil said it earned $304 million on $13.5 billion in revenue during the quarter ended June 30. This compared to net income $582 million on revenue of $12.2 billion in the 1986 period.

Allen E. Murray, chairman of the New York-based oil giant, noted that Mobil’s second-quarter profit last year benefited from $196 million in special items.

Without those provisions, its latest quarterly figure would have been down by 21%, or $82 million over the same period last year.

He said higher oil prices this year contributed to stronger results in Mobil’s exploration and production sector, while the company’s chemical operations “had the best quarter ever.”

In addition, Montgomery Ward, Mobil’s wholly owned retailing subsidiary, posted record second-quarter profits, he added.

“These improvements, however, were more than offset by lower results in refining and marketing,” Murray said, noting that “margins in 1987 were substantially lower in the United States and Europe, as crude prices increased and product prices were depressed due to competitive pressures and high industry product inventory levels.”

Texaco said it earned $240 million in the three months ended June 30, compared to $185 million in the same period last year. Revenue grew to $8.5 billion from $7.9 billion.

The White Plains, N.Y.-based company filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on April 12 in order to avoid having to post a potentially ruinous $12-billion bond while appealing the multibillion-dollar judgment it lost to Pennzoil in late 1985.

As a result, Texaco said, its quarterly profit was boosted by $111 million in suspended interest on unsecured debt, as provided for under the bankruptcy code.

In San Francisco, Chevron officials said higher fuel prices and $150 million in asset sales helped push the company’s earnings to $344 million in the second quarter, up 59.3% from $216 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter totaled $7.3 billion, up about $600 million from a year earlier.

“Although second-quarter earnings reflect a continuation of the positive trends that were evident in the first quarter, we are still recovering from the devastating price collapse that occurred last year,” Chevron Chairman George M. Keller said.

The assets disposed of during the quarter included Chevron’s Denmark producing operation and the company’s remaining interest in Cetus Corp.

Keller said the company’s domestic exploration and production operations continued to show a profit due to higher prices for crude oil during the latest quarter.

Last year’s second-quarter was hurt by lower crude prices and other non-operational charges.