Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 40

2C Thursday October 26 2006 wwwstar-telegramcom BUSINESS ENERGY BRIEFLY EnCana will close four rigs Crude oil jumps $2 per barrel By GENE LAVERTY BLOOMBERG NEWS Oil futures rose sharply past the $61-a-barrel mark in New York on Wednesday after the US government reported that supplies had their biggest one-week decline since July contradicting forecasts that stockpiles would increase US crude inventories dropped 321 million barrels last week to 3323 million after imports tumbled 69 percent from the average of the past four weeks the Energy Department reported Stockpiles had been forecast to rise 3 million barrels according to a Bloomberg survey Supplies of gasoline and distillate fuel also fell last week clearly very said Peter Linder an energy analyst and senior adviser with DeltaOne Capital Partners in Calgary Alberta already seen the beginning of winter and start to see OPEC cuts next week convinced seen the low prices for the Crude oil for December delivery rose $205 or 35 percent to close at $6140 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange the highest since Sept 29 and the biggest one-day gain since March A price of $60 a barrel a level that OPEC claimed they would said Michael Rose head of the trading desk at broker Angus Jackson in Fort Lauderdale Fla believe they will defend that If it goes lower going to be a hard profit falls 37 percent DETROIT DaimlerChrysler AG said it is considering changes in every aspect of the Chrysler Group after a $15 billion third-quarter loss by the US division was blamed for a 37 percent drop in the German automaker's profit Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber refused to comment on possibilities including whether the automaker would sell Chrysler "DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche is having some second thoughts about keeping said Joseph Phillippi a principal at AutoTrends Consulting in Short Hills NJ Detroit Free Press Australia targets global warming CANBERRA Australia The Australian government pledged $95 million Wednesday for two projects as part of its new strategy to combat global warming One is the construction of the world's largest solar power plant The 154 megawatt plant in Victoria state will use mirrored panels to concentrate the rays The government will also help cut carbon emissions from a coal-fired power plant in Victoria The Associated Press Bombay Co gets new credit fine from GE FORT WORTH The Bombay Co obtained a five-year $125 million secured credit line from GE Commercial Finance replacing a secured line in the same amount from Wells Fargo Retail Finance That line would have expired in 2009 The new line "provides the company with greater liquidity and flexibility and gives us the support we need to continue to reenergize our core Bombay Chief Executive David Stewart said Heather Landy slumped this spring and summer But prices have rebounded recently natural gas futures rose 60 cents per thousand cubic feet in trading Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange closing at $769 Another independent producer Chesapeake Energy of Oklahoma City said last month it would shut down about 6 percent of its production in response to lower natural gas prices But Chesapeake said it would continue full production in the Barnett Shale XTO Energy said Tuesday it would proceed as planned next year with its 22 Barnett Shale rigs EnCana declined to say how much the pullback would affect its planned production in 2007 For 2006 EnCana had planned to drill at least 100 wells in the Barnett Shale primarily in Denton and Tarrant counties Barnett Shale monthly production peaked at 41 billion cubic feet in January but dropped to 35 billion cubic feet in August Eresman said that EnCana also will close rigs in natural gas fields in Colorado The No 3 Barnett Shale producer plans to pull the rigs out of production because of high costs By DAN PILLER STAR-1 H-EtRAM STAFF WRITFR EnCana Oil Gas the third-largest producer of natural gas in the Barnett Shale last year Wednesday became the first producer to announce a cutback in drilling because of rising expenses EnCana which is based in Alberta said it will pull four of its 12 rigs out of Barnett Shale production because of high costs In 2005 EnCana produced 35 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the Barnett Shale about 8 percent of the total production It trailed only Devon Energy and XTO Energy among Barnett Shale producers are costing between $20000 and $22000 per said Randy Eres-man chief executive think it is prudent for our shareholders to reduce our Rig rates have almost tripled in the past three years and prices for natural gas EARNINGS STAR-TELEGRAMRON ENNIS Drilling costs have gone up and natural down so EnCana is closing some rigs gas prices have been gains for a counting for commodity-price hedges A year ago EnCana earned $266 million or 80 cents per share in the third quarter shares (ticker: ECA) rose 74 cents to $4854 Wednesday Dan Pi Her 817-390-7719 danpilstar-telegram com and Wyoming EnCana disclosed the cutback in the Barnett Shale as it reported third-quarter earnings of $136 billion for the quarter or $165 per share The net earnings included after-tax gains of $255 million on the sale of the interest in a Brazilian discovery and ConocoPhillips quarterly gain near THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DALLAS third-quarter profit inched higher but missed Wall expectations as increased output tied to its acquisition of Burlington Resources was offset by higher taxes and reduced earnings from refining Nevertheless a $205-a-bar-rel surge in oil prices Wednesday lifted ConocoPhillips shares (ticker: COP) by $135 or 22 percent to $6275 Profit at the Houston company rose 2 percent to $388 billion or $231 a share Revenue rose to $499 billion $4 billion cents per share a year ago Gross sales before excise taxes rose nearly 5 percent to $488 billion from $469 billion last year Pulte Homes Bloomfield Hills Mich: The No 2 home builder by units behind DR Horton said third-quarter profit plummeted 52 percent because of weaker home sales and land-related costs Net income fell to $1902 million or 74 cents per share from $3954 million or $150 per share a year ago Revenue fell 6 percent to $356 billion from $379 billion Home closings fell 11 percent to expand operations Tandy Brands posts $28 million profit Tandy Brands Accessories bounced back from two quarters of losses to post a profit of $28 million or 41 cents a share for its first quarter which ended Sept 30 A decision this year to stop making evening bags socks and other poor-performing products lowered sales by 62 percent from last year's first quarter to $572 million But profit margins improved as the Arlington-based company focused on stronger categories such as wallets belts and gifts Heather Landy Elsewhere Clear Channel Communications the largest radio broadcaster in the US said late Wednesday that it was studying possible transactions to enhance shareholder value which others say could include a buyout Retired General Electric Co CEO Jack Welch and adman Jack Connors are quietly exploring the possibility of making an offer to buy The Boston Globe from The New York Times Co Oracle Corp CEO Larry Ellison on Wednesday launched a price war on Linux software leader Red Hat that sent its share price (ticker: RHAT) down $318 or 163 percent to $1633 in after-hours trading Investors worried that the price war might destroy the open-source software pioneer Ml(ttDIVIDENDS NEWSPAPERS 18 fired workers sue Morning News ter earnings rose nearly 27 percent on sharp revenue growth Profit hit $8108 million or $129 per share for the three months ended Sept 30 from $6407 million or $102 per share a year ago Revenue grew 29 percent to $1443 billion from $1116 billion Anheuser-Busch Cos St Louis: The brewer said profit rose 26 percent driven by strong domestic beer revenue and productivity improvements The maker of Budweiser and Michelob beers said net income grew to $638 million or 82 cents per share from $505 million or 65 MEDIA Telemundo Fort Worth The Spanish-language network will also slash jobs as part of a cost-cutting consolidation By JIM FUQUAY STAR 1 1 1 FlRAM 1 Al WRIT FR FORT WORTH Telemundo the Spanish-language broadcaster that is part of NBC Universal will produce newscasts for the three Texas television stations when it expands its Fort Worth operations early next year the company said The move is part of a costcutting consolidation announced last week by parent NBC Universal which bought Telemundo in 2001 Telemundo is also consolidating production operations in Arizona Nevada and Northern California spokeswoman Liz Fischer said In March Telemundo moved its KXTXChannel 39 operations from Dallas to the Fort Worth offices of sister station KXASNBC 5 in east Fort Worth NBC 5 President Tom said The Fort Worth facility will be the main Texas newsroom and production center for stations in North Texas Houston and San Antonio Fischer said She said Telemdndo will maintain smaller bureaus in Houston and San Antonio prices were lower and that moderated the profit growth prospects Boeing Co Chicago: The aircraft maker reported a 31 percent decline in third-quarter profit Wednesday and anticipates spending significantly more than planned to reduce the weight of its much-awaited 787 jet Net income was $694 million or 89 cents per share down from $101 billion or $126 per share a year earlier Revenues rose to $147 billion from $124 billion Wellpoint Inc Indianapolis: The largest health insurer said third-quar mount an internal investigation which found no wrongdoing by top management A class-action suit by angry shareholders was filed against Belo and in April 2005 the Dallas County district attorney subpoenaed documents linked to the circulation scandal but no criminal charges have been filed In the age-discrimination suit former workers are seeking back and future wages and benefits as well as civil penalties for violating the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act or ERISA One plaintiff is also seeking $9200 that the suit claims he was entitled to under the Severance plan Plaintiff attorney Karen Shropshire of Dallas said that the case could take two years or more Inconsistent statements by management about how employees were selected for termination could help the case she said they wanted to eliminate higher-paid positions they could have offered other positions to these she said they were told these positions were being eliminated And in many cases these positions were later posted and offered to younger The Star-Telegram now employs three of the plaintiffs 7 Burry Siachfer 817-30-7718 barryidistar-telegram com THE ASSOCIATED PRESSDAVID ZALUBOWSKI ConocoPhillips reported third-quarter profit of $388 billion from $4966 billion a year earlier Oil prices were higher than last year during the quarter averaging roughly $70 a barrel but natural gas and gasoline are aware of the said Carey Hendrickson a Belo spokesman believe the complaint is without merit and intend to defend against it Making the discrimination lawsuit somewhat unusual is its allegation that the newspaper Belo Chief Executive Robert Decherd and News Publisher James Moroney III conspired to commit fraud by withholding information about inflated circulation figures long before publicly acknowledging the problem in August 2004 The circulation scandal hurt Belo stock and in turn the value of employee benefit plans which are subject to federal pension law it claimed The paper spent $23 million repairing damaged relations with advertisers Belo hired a law firm to "-rrmriTr The journalists who were terminated allege age discrimination By BARRY SHLACHTER STAR-TEIFGRAM STAFF WRITER Eighteen of 65 editorial employees terminated by The Dallas Morning News in a 2004 cost-savings move have filed a federal age-discrimination suit alleging that the Belo Corp flagship paper announced their posts were being dropped only to fill them later with younger journalists The suit filed Tuesday at US District Court in Dallas alleges that The News had become a hostile environment for employees over 40 stereotyping them as unable to adapt to new technology or assume multiple job responsibilities It quoted Managing Editor Robert Mong as saying that some employees had lost their that will feed reports to the Fort Worth center where they will be edited to produce a single statewide newscast Fischer declined to say how many workers are affected or how many people will work in the Fort Worth production center She said that across operations job cuts will amount to less than 5 percent of employment That is roughly in line with NBC job cuts which the company said last week will amount to 5 percent of employment or about 700 jobs by 2008 The consolidations should save $750 million a year the company said Telemundo operates 16 US television stations Fischer said She said operations at the largest stations such as New York City Los Angeles and Miami will retain their individual operations In addition to the Texas stations operations in Phoenix and Tucson also will be consolidated as will operations in San Jose Calif and Las Vegas Nev The Spanish-language TV market in the US is dominated by Univision which operates KUVN Channel 23 in North Texas Jim Fuquay 817 390-7552 lfuquay(gstar-telegram com Presidents Financial Caring Managirs of ealth and fetirenwnt Income 60ft 585 6GM 58ft Money Martel 6 months 1 year 5 year FDIC INSURED MM 4 CD insured through member institutions Other terms and rates available Rates apply to different mmimums Rates advertised subject to change fixed upon purchase A penalty may be imposed for early withdrawal BUSINESS STAFF HOW TO REACH US Aislitant Managing EdltorBuslmu Steve Kaskovich 817 390 7773 skaskovichstar-telegram com Builnait Editor Scott Nishimura 817 390 7808 smshimurastar-telegram com Anlatant Buslnao Editor Bill Bowen 8173907874 telegram com Eaatorn Tarrant Bualnoi Editor Richard Stubbe 817 548 5477 rstubbeUstar-te'gram com Night Builnoif Editor Jim Frismger 817 390 7670 telegram com htmtiwnli Available 485r910 y- 3 di iJL FJm4 A Variable atTp(Lf ret (8S6)7 miWm QA3 FImmU Ct aaAAaoioaMaatMaMaaw4ai.