State output surges for Continental
Continental Resources Inc.'s year-over-year third quarter financial numbers were hammered by lower oil and natural gas prices, results posted after markets closed on Wednesday showed.
But while its financial performance was off, the Oklahoma City company continues to grow its average daily production, the data also shows.
“Continental teams continue to operate at a high performance level across the Bakken and Oklahoma,” Continental CEO Harold Hamm said as part of the earnings announcement.
“With an oil-weighted portfolio, investment grade level debt and a total shareholder return strategy, no other exploration and production company is more aligned with shareholders."
The Oklahoma City-based company earned a thirdquarter 2019 net income of about $158 million, or 43 cents per share, on total revenues of about $1.1 billion. In the third quarter of 2018, it earned a net income of about $314 million, or 84 cents per share, on total revenues of nearly $1.3 billion.
The company made just more than $1 billion on sales of crude oil and natural gas during the third quarter of 2019, including a net gain of about $1.1 million on derivatives Continental had in place for natural gas production.
During the third quarter of 2018, the company made nearly $ 1 . 3 bi l - lion on those sales. The company doesn't use derivatives to insulate against fluctuating prices for oil.
As for its production, Continental grew both its oil and natural gas daily averages, year over year.
The company's results show its average production of crude oil daily during the third quarter of 2019 was 198,074 barrels, compared to 164,605 the same period the previous year.
Its total average daily production in the third quarter of 2019 was 332,315 barrels of oil equivalent, compared to 296,904 the previous year.
It reported its thirdquarter oil production from the Bakken Shale field was up 13%, yearover-year, and that its year-over-year oil production for the same period from its south production area, parts of the STACK Play and the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province in Oklahoma's Anadarko Basin, was up 62%.
Pat Bent, the company's senior vice president of operations, attributed that gain to the company's “superior acreage position, proper unit density design and excellent execution from our operational teams.”
The company reported its average third-quarter 2019 price f or oil was $51.28 a barrel, compared to $65.78 a barrel the previous year. Its average third-quarter 2019 price for natural gas was $ 1.12 a thousand cubic feet, compared to $3.12 the previous year.
The company's thirdquarter 2019 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and exploration expenses was about $828.7 million, compared to about $1 billion the same period the year before.
Officials also announced Wednesday the company will distribute its first quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share on Nov .21 to shareholders of record on Nov. 7.
The company's stock, traded under the ticker symbol CLR on the New York Stock Exchange, closed Wednesday at $ 28.57 a share, off 78 cents for the day.