PITTSBURGH, July 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CONSOL Energy Inc.
(NYSE: CNX) is announcing several items in advance of its scheduled
July 28 second quarter earnings
announcement.
First, CONSOL expects to report a second quarter loss from
operations, primarily due to lower commodity prices. Operationally,
CONSOL expects to achieve previous quarter total production
guidance for both the E&P and Coal Divisions.
Separate from the operating loss, the company expects to record
a significant impairment charge due to the reduction in the
carrying value of CONSOL's conventional shallow oil and natural gas
assets, largely resulting from a continuation of depressed NYMEX
forward prices. This impairment charge is a non-cash item that will
not affect the company's reserves, Marcellus and Utica Shale
segments, or net asset value (NAV). Also, the impairment will lower
depreciation, depletion and amortization (DD&A) moving forward.
Finally, in the second quarter earning's release and call,
CONSOL expects to discuss its plan to generate free cash flow over
the next 18-months, beginning in the second half of 2015, while
maintaining annual gas production guidance at 30% growth for 2015
and 20% for 2016.
Earnings Release Information:
CONSOL Energy will
report additional operational and financial results for the quarter
ended June 30, 2015 at 6:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday,
July 28, followed by a conference call at 10:00 a.m. ET. The call can be accessed at the
investor relations section of the company's web site, at
www.consolenergy.com.
Cautionary Statements
Various statements in this release, including those that express
a belief, expectation or intention, may be considered
forward-looking statements under federal securities laws including
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange
Act") that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from projected results. Accordingly,
investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements as a prediction of actual results. The forward-looking
statements may include projections and estimates concerning the
timing and success of specific projects and our future production,
revenues, income and capital spending. When we use the words
"believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should," "anticipate,"
"could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," or their
negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which
include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we
describe strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are
making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements
in this press release, if any, speak only as of the date of this
press release; we disclaim any obligation to update these
statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our
current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our
management considers these expectations and assumptions to be
reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business,
economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies
and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many
of which are beyond our control. These risks, contingencies and
uncertainties relate to, among other matters, the following:
deterioration in economic conditions in any of the industries in
which our customers operate; an extended decline in prices we
receive for our gas, natural gas liquids and coal including the
impact on gas prices of our gas operations being concentrated in
Appalachia which has experienced a dramatic increase in gas
production and decline in gas pricing relative to the benchmark
Henry Hub prices; foreign currency fluctuations affecting the
competitiveness of our coal abroad; our customers extending
existing contracts or entering into new long-term contracts for
coal; our reliance on major customers; our inability to collect
payments from customers if their creditworthiness declines; the
disruption of rail, barge, gathering, processing and transportation
facilities and other systems that deliver our gas and coal to
market; a loss of our competitive position because of the
competitive nature of the gas and coal industries, or a loss of our
competitive position because of overcapacity in these industries
impairing our profitability; coal users switching to other fuels in
order to comply with various environmental standards related to
coal combustion emissions; the impact of potential, as well as any
adopted regulations relating to greenhouse gas emissions on the
demand for natural gas and coal ; the risks inherent in gas and
coal operations, including our reliance upon third party
contractors, being subject to unexpected disruptions, including
geological conditions, equipment failure, timing of completion of
significant construction or repair of equipment, fires, explosions,
accidents and weather conditions which could impact financial
results; decreases in the availability of, or increases in, the
price of commodities or capital equipment used in our mining
operations; obtaining and renewing governmental permits and
approvals for our natural gas and coal gas operations; the effects
of government regulation on the discharge into the water or air,
and the disposal and clean-up of, hazardous substances and wastes
generated during our natural gas and coal operations; our ability
to find adequate water sources for our use in gas drilling, or our
ability to dispose of water used or removed from strata in
connection with our gas operations at a reasonable cost and within
applicable environmental rules; the effects of stringent federal
and state employee health and safety regulations, including the
ability of regulators to shut down a mine; the potential for
liabilities arising from environmental contamination or alleged
environmental contamination in connection with our past or current
gas and coal operations; the effects of mine closing, reclamation,
gas well closing and certain other liabilities; uncertainties in
estimating our economically recoverable gas, oil and coal reserves;
defects may exist in our chain of title and we may incur additional
costs associated with perfecting title for gas rights on some of
our properties or failing to acquire these additional rights we may
have to reduce our estimated reserves; the outcomes of various
legal proceedings, which are more fully described in our reports
filed under the Exchange Act; increased exposure to
employee-related long-term liabilities; lump sum payments made to
retiring salaried employees pursuant to our defined benefit pension
plan exceeding total service and interest cost in a plan year;
replacing our natural gas and oil reserves, which if not replaced,
will cause our gas and oil reserves and production to decline;
acquisitions that we recently completed or may make in the future
including the accuracy of our assessment of the acquired businesses
and their risks, achieving any anticipated synergies, integrating
the acquisitions and unanticipated changes that could affect
assumptions we may have made and asset monetization
transactions, including sales of additional interests in our
thermal coal or other assets to CNX Coal Resources LP and
divestitures to third parties we anticipate may not occur or
produce anticipated proceeds; the terms of our existing joint
ventures restrict flexibility, actions taken by the other party in
our gas joint ventures may impact our financial position and
various circumstances could cause us not to realize the benefits we
anticipate receiving from these joint ventures; risks
associated with our debt; our hedging activities may prevent us
from benefiting from price increases and may expose us to other
risks; changes in federal or state income tax laws, particularly in
the area of percentage depletion and intangible drilling costs,
could cause our financial position and profitability to
deteriorate; failure to appropriately allocate capital and other
resources among our strategic opportunities may adversely affect
our financial condition; failure by Murray Energy to satisfy
liabilities it acquired from us, or failure to perform its
obligations under various arrangements, which we guaranteed, could
materially or adversely affect our results of operations, financial
position, and cash flows; information theft, data corruption
and/or financial loss resulting from a terrorist attack or cyber
incident; operating in a single geographic area; and
other factors discussed in the 2014 Form 10-K under "Risk Factors,"
as updated by any subsequent Form 10-Qs, which are on file at the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
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SOURCE CONSOL Energy Inc.