El Paso Corp., owner of the largest U.S. network of natural-gas pipelines, said first-quarter profit fell 65 percent in the absence of a gain last year from an asset sale.

Net income dropped to $219 million, or 29 cents a share, from $629 million, or 89 cents, after payment of dividends on preferred stock, Houston-based El Paso said today in a statement on Market Wire. Last year's figure included a gain on the sale of a pipeline business.

The decline in first-quarter earnings was partially offset by higher pipeline fees and a 22 percent increase in gas futures prices. El Paso said April 16 it expects 2008 exploration and production earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to be $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.

El Paso said last month it's expanding into northeast Louisiana. The company has exploration assets in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, as well as in Brazil and Egypt.

The earnings statement was released before the opening of regular trading on U.S. markets. El Paso yesterday rose 7 cents to $18.27 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

El Paso's market value plummeted from a high of $39 billion in February 2001 to $2 billion two years.

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Royal Dutch Shell and BP, Europe's two largest oil companies with massive U.S. operations in Houston, reported record profit after crude surged above $100 a barrel and natural gas prices rose.

Shell had its biggest gain in London trading in almost three years after saying in a statement today that first-quarter net income jumped 25 percent to $9.08 billion. BP rose the most in 5 1/2 years as profit soared 63 percent to $7.62 billion. Excluding changes from holding inventories and one-time items, both companies beat analysts' estimates.

Oil reached $111.80 a barrel in March as a tumbling dollar spurred investors to buy commodities, while natural gas increased by an average 22 percent. Output rose at Shell and BP, helping to counter falling margins from refining. Crude touched a record $119.93 Monday in New York.

WASHINGTON — The world's top financial officials, shaken by a credit crisis that has roiled markets around the world, are working on regulatory reforms that they hope will restore confidence in the markets.

The plan they have under consideration seeks to boost transparency, strengthen the role of credit rating agencies and bolster cooperation between regulatory authorities in major countries.

Those proposals will be explored today when finance ministers and central bank presidents from the world's seven richest industrial countries meet in Washington for discussions to be led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The discussions, which will also include the top finance officials of Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, are taking place in advance of the weekend meetings of the 185-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending institution, the World Bank.

The financial officials are gathering eight months after a credit crisis, which began in the United States with rising defaults on subprime mortgages, has now spread around the globe. It has caused major financial institutions to declare billions of dollars in losses and brought Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in the United States, to the brink of bankruptcy.

The IMF said in reports this week that worldwide losses could approach $1 trillion over the next two years and the turmoil had already pushed the United States, the world's largest economy, into a recession and raised the risks of a global downturn to one in four.

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea will resume beef trade talks with the United States this week to resolve a nagging dispute that has hindered approval of a separate free-trade agreement.

The U.S. has demanded South Korea fully open its beef market, saying American beef has been certified as safe by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health.

But South Korea has insisted it will maintain quarantine regulations, citing concerns over mad cow disease.

The talks, scheduled to begin Friday in South Korea, come six months after earlier negotiations failed to reach an agreement. The South Korean Agriculture Ministry did not say how long the talks would last.

The U.S. says a resolution of the beef dispute is needed for congressional leaders in Washington to back a wider free-trade agreement with South Korea that was signed last year.

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ATLANTA — United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, cut its first-quarter profit guidance Tuesday, citing lower volume and higher fuel costs.

The company said it now expects earnings per share of 86 cents or 87 cents. Previously, the company said it expected first quarter profit between 94 cents and 98 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 93 cents per share.

The company said lower volume trends from February continued through March, making it impossible to meet its prior guidance.

Atlanta-based UPS said a shift away from premium products and higher fuel costs also contributed to the guidance cut.

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