Seahawk Oil Records Profit for 3rd Quarter

When the drilling started last week at an oil tract off the southern tip of New Zealand, Seahawk Oil International Inc. in Newport Beach recorded one of the biggest deals of its six-year-life. And, as a result, the company posted a $619,131 profit for its third quarter and entered the black for the first nine months of 1985.

For the period ended Sept. 30, Seahawk had revenues of $1.7 million, nearly 55% higher than the $1.1 million recorded last year. Profits in the year-ago period were $246,483, less than half those this year.

For the first nine months of the year, Seahawk’s profits totaled $613,364, slightly more than double the $284,651 recorded last year. Revenues for the three quarters were $3.1 million, 24% higher than the $2.5 million reported last year.

Earlier Agreements

Almost $1.1 million of the third quarter’s revenues and virtually all of the period’s profits were booked because of agreements signed earlier in the year with British Petroleum Co.’s oil exploration unit and Amoco New Zealand Exploration Co. covering drilling rights to the offshore New Zealand oil tract.

In the agreements, signed in January, Seahawk sold a portion of its interest in the New Zealand tract to the two companies with the understanding that the sale would not become final until drilling started, according to Seahawk executive vice president Dennis Hernreich. He said the sale was recorded in the third quarter, although it was not completed until almost two-thirds of the final quarter had elapsed.

Hernreich said profits from the sale, coupled with an ongoing debenture sale aimed at generating $4 million in new cash for the company, will allow Seahawk to start an expansion and acquisition program next year.

“We’re looking for additional properties,” Hernreich said. “We’re in a keen position from which to grow and this is a good time to be looking since so many small companies have just been barely hanging on.”