Oil and natural gas exploration and production company Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) increased its lobbying expenses significantly, during the second quarter 2010, to $1.22 million, from the year-ago level of $520,000. Lobbying expenses, however, saw a marginal decline from $1.3 million in the sequentially preceding quarter.
During the reported quarter, Anadarko lobbied to the federal government on a number of issues related to the oil spill from BP Plc’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil rig that collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. Anadarko had a minority interest in that project.
During the last quarter Anadarko lobbied with Congress, the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior on issues relating to the disaster. The primary purpose of these costly endeavors was to prove to the U.S. administration the company’s negligible role in the accident.
Despite Anadarko’s damage-control efforts, confidence of the shareholders tanked after the accident, as reflected in the fall of the traded price. At the time of the oil spill, the company was trading at $73.79, which plummeted to $36.09 on June 30, 2010, reflecting a decline of $37.70 per share.
The adjusted earnings of Anadarko at the end of the second quarter 2010 were 49 cents a share compared with a net loss of 57 cents per share in the year-ago comparable period. The Zacks Consensus Estimates for third quarter 2010, fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2011 are 37 cents per share, $2.01 per share and $2.52 per share, respectively.
Anadarko currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating). We also maintain a Neutral rating on the stock.
Based in Texas, Anadarko Petroleum is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and production of oil and gas primarily in the United States, the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and Algeria.
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