Quicksilver Resources shows profit
Quicksilver Resources Inc. reported third quarter 2009 net income of $700,000 compared to the 2008 third quarter’s net loss of $3.8 million.
Excluding certain items, the Fort Worth-based natural gas and oil exploration and production company posted earnings of 25 cents per share, beating analysts’ expectations, while increasing production by 12 percent to 311 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, according to the Nov. 9 results. Of the total 28.6 billion cubic feet of production, natural gas made up about 71 percent, while natural gas liquids and crude oil comprised the remaining 27 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
Despite the production increase, commodity prices remain weaker than the highs of 2008.
Natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil sales were $198.3 million in third quarter 2009, down about $20 million from the prior-year quarter. The company reported a 19 percent decrease in the average realized price per thousand cubic feet of natural gas equivalent after hedges.
Quicksilver Resources drilled 32 wells in the Fort Worth Basin, with five rigs running and three rigs dedicated to its Lake Arlington and Alliance projects in Tarrant County. Elsewhere, the company drilled four wells in the Horseshoe Canyon project in Canada, another three remaining to be drilled in 2009, with participation in a total of 145 wells during the year, according to the results.
“For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Quicksilver generated record cash flow through operating activities, reduced unit production costs nearly 30 percent, and is on pace for a record production year,” said Glenn Darden, president and CEO, in a statement. “All of this has been accomplished while limiting capital expenditures below cash inflows.”
ANGA comments on energy outlook
America’s Natural Gas Alliance issued a statement in support of the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook, which stated that the world’s remaining natural gas reserves “are easily large enough to cover any conceivable rate of demand increased through to 2030 and well beyond,” according to the Nov. 10 report.
The agency, based in Paris, projects that natural gas demand will increase 42 percent from 2007 to 2030, and adds that 45 percent of the long-term global recoverable base is unconventional gas. While the report said that unconventional gas resources in the United States and Canada have transformed the gas market, it did not necessarily say this was a good thing for producers, adding that the North American boom combined with a demand recession will contribute to a gas supply glut over the next few years.
Still, ANGA Chairman David Trice said he saw the demand hike over time as more proof natural gas will play a part in expected carbon-reduction goals.
“America’s Natural Gas Alliance wholeheartedly agrees with the World Energy Outlook’s assessment that natural gas is abundant in North America and new supplies have significantly transformed the gas-market outlook,” Trice said in the statement. “It also echoes our sentiment that America must change its energy course today. This is not only an urgent issue domestically, but internationally, and America can significantly reduce her carbon emissions now by increasing the use of clean, abundant, American natural gas.”
ANGA was created by 28 of the nation’s independent natural gas exploration and production companies that produce about 9 trillion cubic feet of gas per year and comprise more than 40 percent of total U.S. gas supply, according to the group’s Web site.
jtronche@bizpress.net
