U.S. shale energy company ONEOK Partners said fourth quarter net income was up year-on-year, though a weak commodity market forced a cut in planned spending.
The company spent the latter half of 2014 planning to add natural gas infrastructure to its operations in North Dakota. Most of the gas associated with North Dakota's oil deposits is burned off, or flared, because there are few means of getting the reserves to market.
In October, the company paid more than $800 million to acquire more than 2,000 miles of gas pipelines extending from the Permian basin in southeastern New Mexico and East Texas from Chevron Corp.
In a fourth-quarter statement issued Monday, the company said net income of $263.2 million was 15 percent higher year-on-year.
"Despite the volatile fourth-quarter commodity price environment, ONEOK Partners reported a record year in 2014, with all of our business segments experiencing double-digit operating income growth compared with 2013," President and Chief Executive Officer Terry Spencer said in a statement.
Crude oil prices are about half of their June 2014 values, forcing most energy companies to lay off staff and cut spending plans for 2015. ONEOK said its capital expenditures for 2015 would be around $1.2 billion, compared with a previous estimated range of $2.8 billion.
The company, as a result, said it was suspending spending plans for natural gas processing plants in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
"We expect to resume our suspended capital-growth projects and update associated completion dates as soon as market conditions improve," Spencer said.
ONEOK said it was basing its estimates on West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, priced at $50 per barrel, about 1 percent less than Tuesday price for the April contract.
