CALGARY - Lower energy prices took a huge bite out of the fourth quarter profits and revenues of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., a major natural gas and oil producer.

The Calgary company reported Wednesday it earned $52 million or 43 cents a share in the three months ended Dec. 31, down from $223.2 million in the same 2000 quarter. Quarterly revenues fell sharply to $661.5 million from $1.03 billion.

For the year, the company's net profits fell to $698.2 million from $782.2 million, while annual revenues rose to 3.6 billion from just over $3.2 billion. Annual cash flow - a measure of an oil company's ability to finance expansion - hit $1.9 billion, about the same as 2000.

Despite lower profits, caused by falling energy prices, the company expanded production by 17 per cent last year to 359,347 barrels of oil equivalent a day. In the fourth quarter, average natural gas sales rose above one billion cubic feet a day, an increase of 88 million cubic feet over third quarter production and 180 million cubic feet over the previous year.

Fourth quarter oil and liquids sales fell slightly to 198,000 barrels a day.

Chairman Allan Markin said Canadian Natural, which bought Calgary's Ranger Oil in mid-2000, strengthened its position as a diversified exploration and development company last year.

"Our assets in all areas have never looked better with defined growth strategies in place for natural gas, oil (light, medium and heavy) and synthetic light oil," Markin said in a release.

"We grew our year-over-year natural gas exit volumes by close to 30 per cent, we continued to develop our international portfolio of light oil assets and we made significant strides in making our Horizon oilsands project a reality."

Canadian Natural (TSE:CNQ) is mainly a gas producer in northeastern B.C. and Alberta but the company also produces oil in Alberta, Saskatchewan, the British North Sea and off the west coast of Africa. One of its key holdings is the Ladyfern gas field in B.C., where the company plans to expand production