Cheniere Energy offers bright spot in dark 1st quarter
Houston liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy on Thursday said it more than doubled its profit year-over-year in the first quarter despite an ongoing glut of natural gas and record-low prices that have hammered other energy companies.
Cheniere said that it made $375 million during the first three months of 2020 compared with $141 million during the same period a year earlier, while revenue increased 17.3 percent to $2.7 billion from $2.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019.
But the quarter was not without challenges. A warm winter and the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in January in China — the world’s largest buyer of liquefied natural gas — created a global glut of natural gas and sent prices tumbling to record lows.
“The first quarter of 2020 was defined by unprecedented circumstances, and our focus at Cheniere has been to protect the health and safety of our workforce, ensure continuity of construction and operations to deliver on our obligations to our customers, and to support the communities where we live and work with assistance needed to provide critical services,” CEO Jack Fusco said. “I am immensely proud of the Cheniere team for their united response to these challenges.
Cheniere owns and operates five LNG production units at the company’s Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana, where a sixth is under construction. The company also is building a third unit at its Corpus Christi LNG export terminal.
Conoco swings to loss amid low oil prices
ConocoPhillips said Thursday that it will cut production further as the Houston-based oil company swung to a loss amid low oil prices and plunging revenue.
The company said it lost $1.7 billion in the first quarter compared with a $1.8 billion profit during the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell by more than 50 percent to $4.8 billion from $10.1 billion in the first quarter of 2019, the company said.
Conoco, citing low oil prices, said it would cut production by about 460,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in June, up from cuts of 265,000 barrels a day in May. The company said it would determine each month whether additional production cuts are needed.
The company also attributed the loss to the declining value of its stake in Cenovus Energy, a Canadian producer. Conoco said the outlook was so uncertain that it wouldn’t provide guidance to investors.
The energy industry has been battered by an unprecedented plunge in demand caused by efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Crumbling economy has BBVA seeing red
BBVA USA’s parent company, based in Houston, has taken a hit as the global pandemic slowed economic activity.
BBVA USA Bancshares lost $2.2 billion in the first quarter, compared with a profit of $141 million a year earlier.
When BBVA bought four U.S. banks in the early 2000s, it paid more than the net worth of those banks because of their brands, clients’ portfolios and positions within the market. Now, those assets have lost their value. Javier Rodríguez
Soler, the bank’s chief executive, blamed the decline on the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Excluding the writedown on the value of those assets, the bank lost $52 million in the first quarter.
The first-quarter report also showed that the number of delinquent loans in its portfolio had increased. In particular, the value of commercial real estate mortgages 30 to 59 days past due increased 152 percent to $13 million in the first quarter from $5 million in the prior quarter. Commercial landlords and investors have been hit hard by the economic shutdown as their tenants, such as restaurants, retailers, movie theaters and gyms, have closed or seen revenue plunge.