Apache Corporation reported production of 752,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day and earnings of $983 million, or $2.50 per diluted share, for the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 2011. These compare with production of 667,000 boe per day and net income of $765 million, or $2.12 per diluted share, for the same period in the prior year.
Excluding certain items that management believes affect the comparability of operating results, Apache reported adjusted earnings of $1.2 billion in third quarter 2011 compared with $797 million in the year-earlier period. On a per-share basis, adjusted earnings were $2.95 in the third quarter compared with $2.20 per diluted share in the prior-year period. Oil and gas revenues for third quarter 2011 were $4.3 billion, a 41 percent increase from $3.0 billion for the same period last year. Cash from operations before changes in operating assets and liabilities were $2.7 billion, up 35 percent from the prior year’s $2.0 billion.
“Apache had a very productive quarter, both in operations and commercial activity,” said G. Steven Farris, chairman and chief executive officer . “For the sixth consecutive quarter, we achieved record daily production on an equivalent basis. We’ve commenced development of the Balnaves oil field offshore Western Australia. We’ve extended the productive range of our holdings in Egypt’s remote Western Desert with new producers in the Faghur Basin. We continue to drill from the extensive, multiyear inventory of drillable locations we have developed in the Permian, Central, Gulf of Mexico and Canadian regions of North America. Domestically, the recent focus has obviously been on higher-margin oil and liquids-rich opportunities. This operational flexibility is a competitive advantage of Apache’s portfolio model.
“Apache made great progress commercially as well during the quarter. We announced the acquisition of ExxonMobil’s Beryl and other selected fields in the U.K. sector of the North Sea, expanding our presence in this region. In Australia, the partner-operated Wheatstone Project advanced to development. This is Apache’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, and we expect it will enable us to monetize an estimated 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resource from the Brunello, Julimar, and Balnaves fields, which also are in development, at premium prices pegged to the worldwide market for LNG, creating additional value at those discoveries,” Farris said.
Liquid hydrocarbons represented 50 percent of production and 78 percent of revenues. Apache benefited from higher oil prices for both its international production indexed to Dated Brent benchmarks and sweet crudes from the Gulf of Mexico, which continue to receive a meaningful premium per barrel compared with production benchmarked to West Texas Intermediate prices.
Apache Corporation is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Canada, Egypt, the United Kingdom North Sea, Australia and Argentina
[mappress] Source: Apache, November 3, 2011