Benton Oil Reports 2nd Quarter Profit

Benton Oil & Gas Co., an Oxnard-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company, reported a second quarter profit after a year-earlier loss.

The company, which has operations in Louisiana, Venezuela and Russia, reported net income of $1.15 million, compared to a loss of $733,860 during the same three-month period a year earlier. Revenue in the latest quarter quadrupled to $8.48 million from $2 million in the June quarter of 1993.

For the first six months of 1994, the company reported earnings of $2,000 on revenue of $12.2 million, compared to a year-earlier loss of $1.48 million on revenue of $3.81 million.

Benton attributed the second quarter results to stronger performances from its domestic and Venezuelan operations. Domestic natural gas sales for the June quarter were 478 million cubic feet, which represented a tenfold increase over sales a year earlier. Oil sales from the Venezuelan project totaled 614,000 barrels in the latest quarter, up from 40,000 barrels a year earlier.