North American energy giant ConocoPhillips said second quarter production was lower in part because of the impact of wildfires this year in Canada.
Conoco said it recorded a net loss of $1.1 billion for the second quarter, compared with a loss of just $179 million one year ago. It’s the fifth straight quarterly loss for the company, which said it was trimming its expected spending forecast for the year by 3.5 percent to $5.5 billion.
“We remain focused on successfully executing our operating plan, lowering the breakeven price of the business and positioning for strong momentum as prices recover,” Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance said in a statement.
Crude oil prices recovered about $10 per barrel so far this year, but remain well below the $100 per barrel price common just two years ago. The World Bank this week, however, raised its forecast for crude prices by 4.8 percent to $43 per barrel for the year, saying some of the gains in oil supplies that dragged prices lower are starting to ease.
Conoco said its production for the second quarter was around 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, a decline of about 49,000 barrels per day when compared with second quarter 2015.
The company blamed the decline on field maturation and the impact of May wildfires in Canada. Those fires had impacted about 1 million barrels per day in net oil production in Alberta and created supply concerns in North America as Canada is the No. 1 oil exporter to the United States.
Conoco’s woes in Canada were compounded in June when the company was given an environmental protection order after an ultra-light form of oil called condensate was released from its Resthaven gas plant. The company confirmed some of the release had spread to an area creek.
Conoco said it was increasing its full-year production guidance by about 2 percent, however, to 1.57 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
“The price environment remains challenging, but our business is running well and we continue to beat our production, capital expenditures and operating cost target,” Lance said.
[Source:- UPI]
