(Reuters) -Marathon Oil beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday as the U.S. shale producer got a boost from higher production.
Marathon reported a rise in its oil and gas output to 404,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 333,000 boepd in the previous year.
This increase in production helped offset decline in crude prices, which fell from their 2022 peaks. However, crude prices are still at levels where companies can produce profitably.
Marathon said it U.S. average crude realized price fell to $77.28 per barrel in the reported quarter, from $84.29 per barrel, in previous year.
The Houston-based company said that although winter weather is expected to lower first quarter production by about 4,000 net bpd, primarily concentrated in the Bakken, it expects no impact to its flat oil production guidance for the full year.
Marathon expects to deliver total oil production of 190,000 net bpd at the midpoint of its 2024 guidance range.
The company's adjusted profit was 69 cents per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with analysts' average estimate of 63 cents per share, according to LSEG data.