By Tess Stynes
Denbury Resources Inc.'s (DNR) first-quarter earnings fell 23%
as the oil and natural-gas producer was hurt by lower production
amid asset sales late last year, as well as debt-extinguishment
charges and other items.
Last month, Denbury closed on its $1.05 billion acquisition of
some Montana and North Dakota properties from ConocoPhillips (COP),
a deal that Denbury expects will enhance its focus on carbon
dioxide-enhanced recovery, a method used to increase the amount of
oil that can be produced from aging fields. The deal was funded
partly with proceeds from the sale of Denbury assets in what is
known as the Bakken Shale to Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) in exchange
for $1.6 billion in cash and interests in two oil fields.
Denbury Resources reported a profit of $87.6 million, or 23
cents a share, down from $113.5 million, or 29 cents a share, a
year earlier. Excluding derivatives impacts, debt-extinguishment
charges and other items, adjusted earnings declined to 33 cents
from 41 cents.
Revenue decreased 9.6% to $583 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently projected
earnings of 29 cents a share on revenue of $534 million.
Total production was down about 11% as the result of asset sales
last year. As a result, oil and natural-gas revenue--excluding
derivatives impacts--was down 9%, offsetting the benefit of higher
realized oil prices.
Shares closed Wednesday at $17.56 and were inactive premarket.
The stock is up 8.4% this year.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@dowjones.com.
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