WRAPUP 1-E&P cos results hit as oil and gas prices, sales fall

* Continental Resources, Swift Energy swing to Q1 loss

* Profits at Pioneer, Plains drop more than 90 pct

* Weak oil, gas prices hurt results at Continental, Swift

* Swift shares rise 16 pct

By Adveith Nair and Arup Roychoudhury

BANGALORE, May 7 (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 NGc1 more than halved from their July 2008 highs and crude prices CLc1 dropped more than $100 a barrel from an all-time high of $147.27 in the same period. [ID:nBNG32424] [ID:nWNAB5205]

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 stabilised 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. [ID:nWNAB5230]

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. [ID:nWNAB5130]

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.

"It's a testament to the strength of the company's base operations that they could post these financial results despite not really drilling any wells in the quarter," Trimble said.

Continental Resources shares were trading down 5 percent at $28.49, while those of Plains were down 3 percent at $22.41. (Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)