HOUSTON (AP) -- Frontier Oil Corp. reported a worse-than-expected fourth-quarter loss of $75.1 million and suspended its quarterly dividend Thursday amid continued slow demand for transportation fuels.
The poor showing left the company in the red for the full year for the first time in a decade.
Frontier blamed the quarterly results on weak demand for refined products and the global decline in the supply of heavy and sour crudes, which weighed on the bottom line.
Also contributing to the fourth-quarter loss was a steep drop in production at its El Dorado and Cheyenne refineries due to major maintenance.
The company cited its lenders' payment restrictions in the board of directors' decision to suspend the quarterly dividend.
The loss for the last three months of 2009 amounted to 72 cents per share and compared with a profit of $119 million, or $1.15 per share, for the same period a year earlier.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting a loss of 47 cents per share.
Revenue was $1.09 billion, down 19 percent from $1.35 billion.
For the full year, Frontier had a net loss of $83.8 million, or 81 cents per share, compared with net income of $226.1 million, or $2.18 per share, in 2008. Revenue sank 35 percent to $4.24 billion from $6.5 billion.
