	ultramar says fourth quarter showed improvements ultramar plc umar l said that while its fourth quarter had improved from the operational point of view several special charges adversely affected results overall the year had not been a good one with upstream operations dramatically hit by the fall in crude oil prices and downstream operations also affected in the first half by large losses on inventories but margins improved in the second half and in particular refining and marketing in eastern canada showed a good recovery the company was commenting on results that showed a net loss for the year of mln stg after a mln profit in the fourth quarter charges included a mln stg provision on a retroactive price agreement recently initialled by pertamina and japanese buyers of the company s liquid natural gas and mln for the early months of its ownership of gulf canada s marketing assets ultramar said it had also included the estimated cost of a further reorganisation programme which was partly offset by a withdrawal of surplus funds from u s pension schemes and a mln stg provision for the estimated cost of selling its u s flag shipping operation the immediate outlook for crude oil prices was uncertain although it was unlikely there would be any sizeable increase in the near term however ultramar said it was optimistic prices would strengthen over the longer term its substantial reserves of crude oil and natural gas put it in a good position to benefit from any price recovery in the meantime ultramar s objectives were to improve profitability by selling or restructuring weak operations while strengthening core businesses and developing a sound operational and financial base proven probable and possible reserves at end totalled about mln barrels net on an oil equivalent basis ultramar shares firmed on the announcement to p from p at last night s close reuter 
