Barnwell Industries Inc.’s earnings jumped 83.7% in its fiscal first quarter, and its oil and natural gas revenue more than doubled from the year-earlier period, as the company continued to rebound from several years of financial hardship.

The Honolulu-based company reported Friday that its net income rose to $1.07 million, or 11 cents a share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 from $584,000, or 7 cents a share, in the December quarter of 2020.

Revenue rose 24.3% to $5.5 million from $4.4 million, with oil and natural gas more than doubling to $3.9 million from $1.9 million.

“Our oil and natural gas operating margins improved as prices increased for all products; oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids increasing 93%, 92%, and 41%, respectively,” Barnwell CEO Alexander Kinzler said in a statement. “Notably, our new Oklahoma oil production accounted for 15% of our first quarter oil production as compared to none in the prior year’s quarter. Our Oklahoma production is from shale oil wells that as a rule have steep production declines.”

Barnwell said its oil operating margins also improved as the company incurred a $630,000 noncash impairment of its oil and natural gas properties due to lower 12-month historical rolling average oil and natural gas prices in the preceding year’s first quarter.

The company also said its land investment segment on Hawaii island performed well as three lots were sold within Phase II of Increment I by the Kukio Resort Development Partnerships at Kaupulehu in North Kona, with the company receiving $600,000 in percentage of sales payments and $1.075 million in net cash distributions during the first quarter.

In January, Barnwell acquired additional working interests in oil and natural gas properties in its core property, the Twining area of Alberta, for about $1.25 million.

Those interests are producing approximately 65 barrels of oil, 10 barrels of natural gas liquids and 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day.

For the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, Barnwell’s earnings improved by $11 million, to $6.25 million, from a loss of $4.75 million in fiscal 2020. The earnings were boosted by a $2,341,000 gain on the termination of its post-retirement medical plan, a $1,164,000 gain on the sale of its Honoloulu corporate office and an $818,000 gain on the sale of its Spirit River oil assets in Alberta.

Barnwell’s stock closed down 2 cents at $2.52 Monday.

FIRST-QUARTER NET

$1.07 million

YEAR-EARLIER NET

$584,000