Honolulu-based Barnwell Industries swung to a profit in the first quarter from a loss in the same period a year earlier, helped by improved performances in the company's real estate investments on the Big Island and its oil and gas operations in Canada.

Barnwell earned $1.5 million, or 18 cents a share in the January-through-March quarter compared with a loss of $17 million, or $2.06 a share a year earlier.

The company's Kaupulehu Developments partnership received $1.2 million in the first quarter from its share in sales at a development on the Kona Coast. That compared with $214,000 it received in the same quarter last year. Barnwell owns 77.6 percent off the partnership that is developing homes adjacent to the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in the Kaupulehu Resort

The company's Canadian oil and natural gas segment benefited from a 107 percent increase in oil prices and a 16 percent rise in natural gas prices from a year earlier, the company said.

Barnwell also reported that its credit facility with a Canadian bank was renewed through April 2011.

In addition, the company's credit facility with a U.S. bank was extended to February 2012. Barnwell said it used funds from that facility to build two more homes in the Kaupulehu Resort that are on the market.

Barnwell's shares fell 13 cents to $3.93 yesterday.