A big boost in revenue didn’t keep Honolulu-based Barnwell Industries Inc. from losing money in the first three months of this year.

The company largely engaged in Canadian oil and natural gas production announced Monday that it lost $2.1 million in its fiscal second-quarter on $3 million in revenue.

In the same quarter last year, Barnwell produced a $679,000 profit on $2 million in revenue.

The company said the recent quarter loss was partly due to difficulties with two drilling contracts that had a $384,000 negative impact, and a $243,000 noncash impairment of its oil and natural gas properties because of low prices.

Barnwell also noted that its profit a year earlier was largely due to a $2.3 million pre-tax gain from the sale of its principal oil property in Alberta.

The 50 percent boost in revenue during the first three months of this year was driven by oil and gas production that more than doubled because of an oil property acquisition in Alberta late last year.

To deal with its financial downturn, Barnwell announced in March that it intended to cut its general and administrative expenses by about $500,000 a year. The austerity measures, which include a previously announced 26% cut to top executive salaries and a 25% cut to board director fees, are scheduled to be reflected in the next quarter, the company said.

Shares of Barnwell stock slipped 1 cent to $1.31 on Monday after the earnings announcement. Shares over the last 52 weeks have closed between $1.27 on March 14 and $2.47 on July 3.

SECOND-QUARTER LOSS

$2.1 million

YEAR-EARLIER NET

$679,000

ON THE MOVE

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has announced that the following new physicians have joined their facilities on Oahu and Hawaii island:

>> Dr. Benjamin Brown practices emergency medicine at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii at Moanalua Medical Center. Brown previously served in the Level III trauma center at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., as well as in Level I and Level II trauma centers in Providence, R.I.

>> Dr. Briana Lau-Amii has joined the surgery department at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. She served as a general surgery resident at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center as well as the chief administrative fellow at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in the Complex Surgical Oncology division in Santa Monica, Calif. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, Lau-Amii was a general surgeon at the Pali Momi Medical Group.