Pioneer falls to 3Q loss on charges, hurricanes

DALLAS - Pioneer Natural Resources Co. on Tuesday said it swung to a third-quarter loss, as charges for exiting several projects piled up and production slowed because of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

The independent oil and gas company said it lost $3 million, or 3 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, reversing a year-ago profit of $101.9 million, or 85 cents per share. The per-share results reflect a 3 percent reduction in the number of outstanding shares in the latest quarter.

Adjusted for a series of charges, the company said it earned $109 million, or 91 cents per share. That nevertheless was well short of the $1.21 per share, on average, forecast by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts typically exclude one-time items from their estimates.

Pioneer said revenue rose 26 percent, to $615.8 million, from $490.1 million a year ago. Wall Street forecast revenue of $664.2 million.

The company detailed charges totaling $112 million, or 94 cents per share, including a receivable allowance of $12 million, or 10 cents per share, for unpaid pre-bankruptcy claims for product sold to subsidiaries of SemGroup LP, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 22.

Pioneer also booked charges of $5 million, or 4 cents per share, on an exit charge from a project in Equatorial Guinea; $38 million, or 32 cents per share, related to the abandonment of two projects, one in Lay Creek, Colo., and the other in the Delaware shale, in Reeves County, Texas. Also recorded was an impairment charge to reduce the book value of Pioneers Uinta Piceance assets in Colorado by $57 million, or 48 cents per share, as a result of lower gas prices.

The company also said the quarter was "materially impacted" by the loss of about 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, due to shutting down and curtailing production related to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, as a result of damage to pipelines and natural gas liquids processing facilities owned by another company in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

Production rose 11 percent from the prior-year quarter. Third quarter sales averaged 111,838 barrels of oil equivalent per day, consisting of oil sales averaging 30,406 barrels per day, natural gas liquids sales averaging 18,921 barrels per day and gas sales averaging 375 million cubic feet per day. The average price for oil was $81.51 per barrel during the quarter. The reported price for natural gas liquids was $62.24 per barrel, and for natural gas was $7.99 per million cubic feet. Production costs averaged $15.13 per barrel of oil equivalent.

Pioneer shares closed the regular session up $3.46, or 13.4 percent, at $29.21. After releasing results, shares dropped $1.21, or 4.1 percent, to $28 in aftermarket electronic trading.

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