Noble Reports Steep 2Q Loss, CNR in Black, Apache 'Bottoms Out'
North American independents reporting 2Q results August 3 presented a mixed bag, with Noble reporting a steep loss after exiting a key US shale play.
Noble announced a second quarter loss of $1.5bn, net of a $2.32bn charge relating to its June 28 divestment from the Marcellus Shale in the northeast US. It achieved 2Q17 net global sales of 408,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day, up 7% on 1Q2017, but likely to dip in 3Q. But it boasted record 2Q gross sales in Israel of 962mn ft3 equivalent/day, up 9% year on year (272mn ft3/d net to Noble) on an average realised price of $5.34/’000 ft3/d in 2Q, up 4%.
Calgary-based Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL) reported net earnings of $1.07bn, against a net 2Q2016 loss of $339mn, while adjusted 2Q net earnings were $332mn, up by roughly half. Net production reached 913,171 boe/d in 2Q17, up 16% year on year. It said well abandonment is underway at its UK Ninian oilfield, where production ceased mid-May. In Cote d’Ivoire, it completed a scheduled turnaround of its Espoir, and another this 3Q at its Baobab, gasfields – which explained the dip in its 2Q2017 Ivoirian net gas production to 16mn ft3/d (from 39mn ft3/d in 2Q2016).
Apache’s net $79mn loss in 2Q was down slightly from its $99mn net loss in 2Q2016. Operating earnings were $572mn, a reversal from a $244mn loss in 2Q2016. Post-quarter, it announced a strategic exit, in its case from Canada July 6. “Daily production bottomed out in 2Q, and we have shifted to a growth trajectory,” said CEO John J Christmann August 3; adjusted production of 388,000 boe/d in 2Q2017 excludes Egypt non-controlled interest (Sinopec/EGPC shares) and tax barrels. Net Egypt output was 89,000 boe/d, up 1%, of which 52,000 b/d oil/liquids, and the rest gas.
Noble's net 2Q17 sales of 408,000 boe/d broke down as 201,000 b/d liquids and 1.24bn ft3/d; the latter was all in the US apart from 272mn ft3/d in Israel and 231mn ft3/d in Equatorial Guinea. All CNR's 913,171 boe/d was in North America, apart from 46,000 b/d oil and 53mn ft3/d in the North Sea/Africa. Apache's 388,000 boe/d included 250,000 b/d liquids -- plus 0.82bn ft3/d gas, of which 0.57bn in the US, 0.22bn in Egypt, 0.03bn in the UK North Sea.
Mark Smedley