UPDATE 2-Anadarko reports quarterly profit, 8 pct rise in output
* Shares edge up in post market trade
* Record output for 2012
Feb 4 (Reuters) - Anadarko Petroleum Corp on Monday reported a quarterly profit that topped analyst estimates as the company pumped more higher-priced oil from U.S. shale basins and the Gulf of Mexico.
Sustained low natural gas prices caused energy companies like Anadarko to spend more to produce pricier crude oil. Anadarko has active exploration and production programs in places like the Eagle Ford formation in South Texas and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and Africa.
The Houston-based company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $203 million, or 40 cents per share. A year ago, Anadarko lost $358 million, or 72 cents per share.
Excluding one-time items, Anadarko earned 91 cents per share. Wall Street analysts on average had expected a profit of 72 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Total sales of oil and gas came to 68 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), up from the 63 million boe in the fourth quarter a year earlier.
John Gerdes, a Canaccord Genuity oil analyst who recommended investors buy Anadarko shares before the earnings report, had expected Anadarko to report fourth-quarter production of 68 million boe, slightly above the company's own forecast.
Output from Anadarko's onshore U.S. wells rose 37 percent from a year ago, driven by increased horizontal drilling activity in the Eagle Ford and Permian formations in Texas and the Wattenberg field in Colorado, Anadarko said.
For the full year, Anadarko said its sales volumes reached a record 268 million boe. Proved reserves at year-end were estimated at 2.56 billion boe, up from 2.54 billion boe in 2011.
Shares of Anadarko rose to $80.88 in after-hours trading, up from a New York Stock Exchange close of $80.50.