By Chelsey Dulaney
Noble Energy Inc. swung to a loss in the first quarter as the
price it received for a barrel of oil fell by more than half.
But the company boosted its sales volume guidance for the year,
saying it now expects sales of 300,000 to 315,000 barrels of oil
equivalent a day, citing "outperformance" during the first
quarter.
Total sales volume grew 11% during the first quarter, due mostly
to the company's development of the Basin and Marcellus Shale
resource plays.
Meanwhile, average realized prices for crude oil and condensates
fell to $45.96 a barrel during the first quarter from $100.23 a
year earlier. Average prices for natural gas were down 27%.
The company said it remains on track with its capital budget of
$2.9 billion for the year. In February, Noble announced plans to
cut its 2015 capital spending plans by about 40% amid tumbling oil
prices.
Noble Energy has been selling its noncore assets, positioning
itself to focus on horizontal drilling operations in the U.S. and
offshore projects in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean and west
Africa. Major initiatives have included projects in Israel and
Equatorial Guinea.
It has focused on developing the DJ Basin and Marcellus
Shale.
Overall, for the quarter ended March 31, Noble Energy reported a
loss of $22 million, or six cents a share, compared with a
prior-year profit of $200 million, or 55 cents a share.
Excluding items, earnings were three cents a share.
Revenue fell 45% to $759 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 2
cents a share and revenue of $907.5 billion.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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