Oil and gas producer Sundance Energy lifts quarterly sales by almost half
Energy
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Sundance Energy lifted third-quarter sales by almost 50 per cent as higher production offset delays caused by Hurricane Harvey.
Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 storm that hit Texas in August causing $180 billion in damage, was one of the worst natural disasters in US history.
The oil and gas producer — which has operations in Texas’s south — says the average price it got for oil by the barrel was $US48.19 compared to $US48.16 for West Texas Crude (WTI), the benchmark for US oil.
West Texas Crude’s price began rising again in October.
Revenue for “barrel of oil equivalent” (Boe) — or oil, gas and gas liquids together — was $US39.34, or about $US8 more than it got in the same quarter last year.
The total per-barrel take was lower than the oil price because gas prices in the US are very low — and haven’t broken through the $US3 MMBtu (million British thermal units) mark since 2014.
Total revenue was $US31.6 million on spending of $US16.7 million.
Sundance has significantly ramped up production in all areas, lifting quarterly production of oil and natural gas — although natural gas liquids, such as ethene or propane, remained almost flat.
Total production was up by 52 per cent to 854,887 barrels.
During the quarter, Sundance brought six new wells into production and completed six others. It has four more to finish in order to achieve its 2017 drilling program.
Sundance shares were up 5.8 per cent in morning trade to 7.3c, a bright point in a year that’s seen the share price tank after a fourth quarter report delivered more delays and downtime – and therefore lower production – than expected.
