As we reported in last night's release, National Fuels fourth quarter operating results were $0.40 per share.
Consistent with earlier quarters, lower commodity prices were the main driver, contributing to the $0.14 per share drop in operating results, contributing to non-cash ceiling test impairment charge.
As a reminder, this project is fully contracted, with the bulk of the commitments extending for 15 years.
The project is expected to add about $27 million in annual revenues.
It looks like the final capital cost will come in around $129 million, which is more than 10% below our initial cost estimate.
And again as a reminder, FM100 will add approximately $50 million in annual revenues between the $35 million expansion component and the additional $15 million modernization rate step-up agreed to in our February rate case settlement.
Nevertheless, in spite of the incremental $60 million in capital associated with this rig, we still expect to generate in excess of $100 million of free cash flow from our upstream and gathering businesses.
In spite of the pandemic, we had a very successful construction season, replacing over 150 miles of older pipe on the system.
As a result of the improved outlook for natural gas prices, we are revising our earnings guidance up to $3.70 at the midpoint, an increase of more than 25% over our fiscal 2020 results.
Despite the backwardation in the natural gas curve, as we look to fiscal 22, the increased activity at Seneca, combined with the expected in-service date of the FM100 project and a continued modest growth in our utility segment are all expected to drive further earnings growth.
For example, relative to 1990 levels, our utilities EPA Subpart W emissions are down by over 60%.
We produced 67.3 Bcfe, an increase of around 14% compared to last year's fourth quarter.
Despite low-end basin and natural gas prices, which led us to voluntarily curtail about 6 Bcf, we achieved our largest quarterly production ever.
For the year, we curtailed 17 Bcf and annual net production came in just over 241 Bcfe.
For the year, capital expenditures, excluding the acquisition, ended up at around $384 million, a reduction of approximately $108 million or 22% from the prior-year.
Expenses on a per unit basis were down 8% from last year, and we're all within our fiscal 2020 guidance ranges.
PUD reserves increased by 359 Bcfe or 12% to just under 3.5 Tcfe, with the increase largely driven by our acquisition during the fourth quarter.
PUD developed reserves now make up approximately 84% of total reserves.
As a result of our recent acquisition, we now have substantial inventory of both Utica and Marcellus drill locations in Tioga, and our inventory has expanded to approximately 300 locations in the EDA.
In the Rich Valley Beechwood area, we have around 100 Utica drill locations, and we'll be able to utilize our existing gathering trump line [Phonetic].
In California, we produced around 555,000 barrels of oil during the fourth quarter, a decrease of around 9% from last year's fourth quarter.
Year-over-year, oil production was largely flat, with a slight increase of 26,000 barrels.
As we are currently planning to differ much of our fiscal 2021 development program in California, we have budgeted only $10 million in capex, but again as prices rebound, our intention is to increase our activity in California to return to our development programs in Midway Sunset and Coalinga.
As part of our recent acquisition, we secured 100 million [Phonetic] a day on Dominion, with access to Transco Leidy line and the Leidy South project, providing us with optionality to utilize this capacity from Tioga, in addition to Lycoming and the WDA.
First production from the additional rig is expected in early fiscal 2022 to align with the expected Leidy South in-service date, allowing Seneca to utilize this 330 million [Phonetic] a day of incremental pipeline capacity to reach premium markets during the winter heating season.
As a result of adding the second rig for approximately nine months of the fiscal year, we are increasing our fiscal 2021 capex by around $60 million from our previous guidance to a total of $370 million at the midpoint.
Even with a second rig, we are forecasting a decrease in capital expenditures of around $15 million year-over-year.
Most of our production growth in fiscal 2021, forecasted to be up over 30% of the mid-point, should occurred during the first half of the year with a moderate decline during the back half, as we defer completion and flowback activity until the winter season when our new capacity is targeted to be in service.
Moving forward, we have 234 Bcf around 77% of our fiscal 2021 East Division gas production locked in physically and financially.
We have another 41 Bcf of firm sales providing basis protection.
So 90% -- around 90% of our forecasted gas production is already sold.
We currently estimate that we'll have around 30 Bcf of gas exposed to the spot market.
And finally in California, around 50% of our oil production is hedged at an average price of just over $58 per barrel.
As Dave stated at the beginning of the call, National Fuels operating results for the quarter came in at $0.40 per share, adjusting for items impacting comparability, which was in line with our expectations.
One item of note during the fourth quarter was our effective tax rate, which at approximately 15% was much lower than expectations and the prior year.
Looking to fiscal 2021, we revised our earnings guidance higher to a range of $3.55 to $3.85 per share or $3.70 at the midpoint.
First, we've increased our NYMEX assumption to $3 per MMBtu and correspondingly increased our in-basin pricing forecast to $2.50 in the winter months and $2.10 in the summer and shoulder months.
Second, as a result of the ceiling test impairment charge recorded during the quarter, we now expect DD&A at Seneca to be in the range of $0.60 to $0.65 per Mcfe.
Going in the other direction, reflecting recent changes in forward crude oil prices, we've reduced our WTI assumption to $37.50 per barrel and made a slight adjustment to our California basis differential, moving it down from 95% to 94% as a result of recent trends we are experiencing in the region.
There is a tipping point into a higher tier as we hit the $3 per MMBtu mark.
So our updated forecast reflects this increased fee, which is approximately $3 million higher for the fiscal year.
One of the key inputs in our steam generation is natural gas, and with the increase in pricing, we expect modestly higher LOE in the region, which is reflected in the slight widening of our guidance range now forecast between $0.83 and $0.86 per Mcfe.
Further on production, as John mentioned, we continued to actively hedge as the forward curve moves up, and now have price protection on 77% of our natural gas volumes.
We also have 50% of our crude oil production hedged at $58 per barrel.
As a reminder, we are forecasting a return to normal weather at the utility, which will drive a $5 million increase in margin year-over-year.
Combining this with $3 million of incremental revenue related to our New York system modernization tracker, we expect to see margin growth of approximately 2% for the year.
Going in the opposite direction, we now project O&M to increase approximately 3% to 4%, which is modestly higher than our previous guidance.
We still expect revenues to be in the range of $330 million to $340 million, and O&M expense to increase approximately 4% for the year.
Looking to this year, as Dave and John both mentioned, we expect Seneca's capital to increase by approximately $60 million, as a result of the increased Appalachian activity level.
So at the midpoint of our range, we expect spending to be $775 million.
Tying everything together, we now forecast our funds from operations to exceed capital spending by $50 million to $75 million on a consolidated basis.

Summary:
Looking to fiscal 2021, we revised our earnings guidance higher to a range of $3.55 to $3.85 per share or $3.70 at the midpoint.