Tulsa World: Week In Review

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Week In Review
A look back at the week’s top stories

A World War II Boeing B-17 Bomber sits on the tarmac at Jones Riverside Airport in Tulsa on Thursday. Flights are being offered on the plane from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. The cost is $399 for the public, with walking tours available for $5. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World

By Staff Reports
Published: 11/1/2009 2:25 AM
Last Modified: 11/1/2009 6:23 AM

SemGroup to emerge from bankruptcy

SemGroup LP, once a shining light of privately held Tulsa energy companies, which actually was hiding a mountain of debt, finally will emerge as a publicly traded and leaner midstream oil and gas firm after 15 months of bankruptcy, officials said Monday.

A federal judge and majority of SemGroup creditors signed off on the company's reorganization plan Monday. The approval will allow SemGroup to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the next few weeks.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan L. Shannon's confirmation echoed a strong yes vote from most of SemGroup's creditors. Those lenders in support held more than $4 billion of the company's secured and unsecured debt, the judge noted.

"The record reflects overwhelming creditor support for the plan," Shannon said at the conclusion of an 11-hour hearing in Wilmington, Del.

The new public SemGroup, however, will not be listed on a stock exchange until 2010. The reorganized SemGroup initially would offer about $1 billion in equity, according to reports.

— ROD WALTON, World Staff Writer

Dollar Thrifty reports profit in third quarter

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc., the Tulsa-based rental car company, posted third-quarter net income Monday of $30.09 million, or $1.29 per share, a 59 percent increase from 2008's third quarter. Revenue was $438.89 million, down 12.3 percent from the same quarter last year.

Dollar Thrifty's turnaround — its net income for 2009's first nine months is $33.56

million compared with a net loss of $268.2 million in the same period a year ago — is attributable to a restructuring of company operations a year ago, company executives said.

"In spite of the difficult economic environment, we achieved our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement in both non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income (loss) and corporate adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)," said President and CEO Scott L. Thompson.

While revenue dropped 12.3 percent in the third quarter, expenses decreased even more, at $396.06 million, a 15.6 percent decline compared with 2008's third quarter.

— D.R. STEWART, World Staff Writer

Tulsa-based NORDAM celebrates 40 years

Tulsa aerospace manufacturer NORDAM Group is celebrating 40 years in business.

In the last four decades the company has grown from a small military and commercial contractor to a multinational provider of components and repair services to the military, commercial and general aviation markets.

"For 40 years, the men and women of NORDAM have worked tirelessly to provide customers in commercial, corporate and military aviation with engineering-driven solutions designed to keep their aircraft flying safely," said NORDAM Vice Chairman Raymond (Tray) Siegfried III. "We're proud of our heritage and proud to continue the legacy of our father and founder, Ray Siegfried, who established Nordam in 1969 on a firm foundation of quality and integrity."

Beginning with a $125,000 contract to build military equipment parts for Texas-based LTV Corp., the elder Siegfried and a dozen skilled NORDAM employees evolved from losing $250,000 in the first three months after Siegfried took over to winning its first commercial contract with Boeing Co.

Repairing wing-tip lenses on Boeing 727 aircraft led to the founding of NORDAM's Transparency Division, which manufactures cockpit and passenger windows for military and commercial aircraft.

By the end of 1973, NORDAM had 100 employees. Today, it employs about 1,500 people in Tulsa and 2,000 worldwide.

— D.R. STEWART, World Staff Writer

BOK Financial Corp. continues to see profits

BOK Financial Corp. saw its third-quarter net income drop 10.6 percent from the same time a year ago, the company reported Wednesday.

BOK — the parent of Bank of Oklahoma — recorded a net income of $50.7 million, or 75 cents a diluted share, compared with $56.7 million, or 84 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

That figure was also down from the second and first quarters of this year when BOK posted net income of $52.1 million and $55.0 million, respectively, the company reported.

Despite the lower earnings, BOK Financial Corp. officials remain pleased with the company's performance.

"Earnings for the third quarter were based on continued net interest revenue growth, solid fee revenue and controlled operating expenses," said President and CEO Stan Lybarger, in a written statement.

BOK has continued to perform "very well in a recessionary period," with earnings above $50 million every quarter this year, noted Steven Nell, the company's chief financial officer, in a phone interview.

The 2008 third quarter included about $4 million in a "one-time pick up from a derivative business," said Nell, explaining one reason for the higher net income last year compared with this year's third quarter.

Nell highlighted that BOK's capital levels and its tangible common equity ratio was 7.78 percent for the quarter, an improvement from the second quarter's 7.55 percent. That is a gauge the market uses to judge the strength of a banking organization, he said.

— LAURIE WINSLOW, World Staff Writer

ConocoPhillips plans to sell some assets

Lower third-quarter earnings were only the short-term story Wednesday as ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva indicated the company's more dramatic long-term strategy will be cutting costs and selling off billions in assets, possibly including some refineries in several years.

"We will continue as an international integrated company, but somewhat smaller," Mulva told analysts and media during a conference call.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips, the oil and gas giant merged out of two historic Oklahoma companies seven years ago, generated $1.5 billion in net income for the three months ending Sept. 30. The third-quarter profit was down 71 percent from the same time last year.

Mulva's compensation fell to $29.4 million last year, compared with $50 million in 2007, according to reports.

ConocoPhillips plans to sell off about $10 billion worth of assets over the next year, officials said.

The 9 percent stake in Syncrude Canada operations is being tested for offers, while the company also plans to divest what Mulva called "the bottom 10 percent" of its North American exploration and production.

The refinery market is too rough to consider selling facilities right now, but ConocoPhillips could be looking for buyers of some of its "less sophisticated" refineries in 2012 and 2013, Mulva added. He did not name specific facilities; ConocoPhillips owns a refinery employing 750 people in Ponca City.

— ROD WALTON, World Staff Writer By Staff Reports

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