E&P companies results hit as oil and gas prices, sales fall

By Adveith Nair and Arup Roychoudhury

BANGALORE (Reuters) - A group of oil and gas explorers and producers reported first-quarter results that were hurt by a sharp dip in oil and gas prices, and declining sales.

While Continental Resources Inc (CLR.N) and Swift Energy Co (SFY.N) swung to a first-quarter loss, Pioneer Drilling Co (PDC.A) and Plains Exploration & Production Co (PXP.N) reported a sharp dip in quarterly profits.

Continental Resources and Swift Energy were hurt as U.S. natural gas prices more than halved from their July 2008 highs and crude prices dropped more than $100 a barrel from an all-time high of $147.27 in the same period.

Continental Resources' average sales price per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) dropped 63 percent to $29.90 for the first quarter, while average price per boe at Swift Energy dropped 58 percent to $32.29 during the quarter.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Leo Mariani said oil prices had already stabilized in the past few days at around the $50 level, but was not as optimistic on natural gas.

"Natural Gas is a different animal. We've got natural gas prices moving up aggressively in the past week and my personal opinion is that prices will continue to be volatile for the next 6 to 7 months," he said.

First-quarter profits at Plains Exploration dropped a whopping 97 percent, as oil and gas sales fell as much as 63 percent.

Pioneer also reported a 95 percent dip in first-quarter profits, as utilization for its rigs dropped 52 percent for the quarter, down from 87 percent last year.

CONTINENTAL PRRODUCTION RISES

While production dipped at Swift Energy and Plains Exploration, Continental Resources reported a rise over last year.

In a conference call with analysts, Continental Resources, which reported a 22 percent rise in production, said it still expects to grow production by 4 percent to 8 percent this year, despite a drop in drilling activity.

Production at Swift Energy dropped 8 percent for the latest first quarter, while Plains reported a 15 percent dip in production.

"You are going to see at least domestically, natural gas production falling till the end of the year. It is peaking out about now, but will drop precipitously by December," analyst Mariani said.

Shares of Swift Energy rose up as much as 16 percent to $16.57, before paring some gains to trade up $1.55 at $15.89 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Natixis Bleichroeder analyst Curtis Trimble said Swift's price movement on Thursday likely related to a recovery rally.