Gas prices a boon
for Barnwell

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By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

Barnwell Industries Inc. said today its third quarter 2001 earnings were up 2.8 percent.

The Honolulu-based company -- which owns land on the Big Island and conducts oil and gas drilling in Canada -- reported a net income of $740,000 for its fiscal third quarter ending June 30, up from $720,000 in the year-earlier period. On a per-share basis, Barnwell's third quarter 2001 net was 55 cents, compared with 53 cents in the same period last year.

For the first nine months of its fiscal year, the company has earned $3.7 million, or $2.68 per share, compared to $3.9 million, or $2.88 per share last year. Shares of Barnwell closed at $19.25 today on the American Stock Exchange, down 15 cents from Friday.

Morton Kinzler, Barnwell's chairman and chief executive officer, attributed the quarterly increase to the continued rise in natural gas and natural gas liquids prices. Natural gas was up 50 percent during the quarter while prices for natural gas solids were up 25 percent.

Kinzler also noted the company received a $300,000 windfall from new tax legislation in Canada's Alberta province. Legislators in that province recently lowered the corporate tax rate from 15.5 percent to 13.5 percent.