The Board of Directors and Stockholders  Amerada Hess Corporation  We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Amerada Hess Corporation and consolidated sub- sidiaries as of December 31, 2003 and 2002 and the related consolidated statements of income, retained earnings, cash flows, changes in preferred stock, common stock and capi- tal in excess of par value and comprehensive income for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2003. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Corporation’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing stan- dards generally accepted in the United States. Those stan- dards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial state- ments are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presenta- tion. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion. In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Amerada Hess Corporation and consol- idated subsidiaries at December 31, 2003 and 2002 and the consolidated results of their operations and their consoli- dated cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2003, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. As discussed in Notes 4 and 17 to the consolidated financial statements, the Corporation adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 143, Accounting for Asset Retire- ment Obligations, effective January 1, 2003, and Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, effective January 1, 2001. Cornet ¥ rere New York, NY February 20, 2004 58 REPORT OF ERNST & YOUNG LLP INDEPENDENT AUDITORS