Q2 2017: Anadarko Reports $415m Net Loss

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) has announced its second-quarter 2017 results, reporting a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $415 million, or $0.76 per share (diluted). These results include certain items typically excluded by the investment community in published estimates. In total, these items increased the net loss by $8 million, or $0.01 per share (diluted), on an after-tax basis.(1) Net cash provided by operating activities in the second quarter of 2017 was $857 million.

SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Achieved a 12-percent increase in total oil sales volume over the second quarter of 2016

• Increased overall sales-volume product mix to 67-percent liquids compared to 54-percent liquids in the second quarter of 2016

• Continued deepwater Gulf of Mexico success with new tieback activities at Horn Mountain and K2, and facility upgrades at Constitution

• Closed divestitures totaling more than $600 million during the quarter

"Our portfolio delivered good operating results and cash flow during the second quarter with significantly improved cash margins and increased oil volumes year-over-year, even with the temporary production impacts associated with our response efforts in Colorado," said Al Walker, Anadarko Chairman, President and CEO. "Our successful divestitures further strengthened the company's cash position, while providing flexibility for the second half of the year and beyond. The current market conditions require lower capital intensity given the volatility of margins realized in this operating environment. As such, we are reducing our level of investments by $300 million for the full year, and adjusting full-year sales-volume guidance to reflect recent divestitures and the deferred production associated with the Colorado response. We feel this is a prudent move, while still expecting to average approximately 130,000 barrels of oil per day in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and exit the year at around 150,000 barrels of oil per day from the Delaware and DJ basins combined."

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Anadarko's second-quarter 2017 sales volume of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) totaled 57 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), or an average of 631,000 BOE per day.

During the second quarter, Anadarko achieved record oil sales volume in the Delaware Basin of West Texas averaging approximately 33,000 barrels of oil per day, a 52-percent increase over the second quarter of 2016. Importantly, Anadarko is in the final stages of securing operatorship for approximately 70 percent of the acreage position, which was previously part of the joint-venture agreement that recently concluded with Shell. Anadarko's working and net-revenue interest remains unchanged, and the company's efforts can begin to evolve from capturing operatorship and appraising the prior Area of Mutual Interest to development of this world-class asset. In addition, the company continues to expand takeaway capacity having recently reached an agreement to be an anchor shipper on a residue-gas line going from the Western Gas Partners, LP (WES)-operated Ramsey plant and future WES-operated Mentone plant to the Waha area. Anadarko also concluded a tranche of crude oil pipeline capacity from the Permian Basin to Gulf Coast markets.

In the DJ Basin, oil sales volume for the quarter averaged 76,000 barrels per day. The company continued to refine its completions program and achieve greater drilling efficiencies with record cycle times for short-, mid- and longer-length laterals. The company's new completion design is yielding cumulative production improvements of more than 35 percent compared to the core type-curves provided during the March Investor Conference. During the quarter, Anadarko also mobilized significant resources in its response to the Notice to Operators issued by Colorado's oil and gas regulatory authority, which included the company's additional efforts to inspect its vertical well inventory and remove all associated one-inch return lines.

In the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko's oil sales volume averaged 113,000 barrels per day, as the company successfully completed several planned maintenance activities and facility upgrades. The first development well of the Horn Mountain Deep discovery was brought on line ahead of schedule and is currently producing approximately 12,000 barrels of oil per day. In addition, field production continued at a nine-year high at K2, with a new tieback brought on production in April, which is currently producing more than 9,000 BOE per day. The company also expanded its industry-leading leasehold position in the recent deepwater Gulf lease sale by being awarded 11 new leases near existing opportunities and infrastructure.

Internationally, sales volume averaged 93,000 barrels per day, an increase of 25 percent over the second quarter of 2016. The year-over-year increase was largely driven by the startup of the TEN development offshore Ghana in the third-quarter of 2016. In addition, Anadarko is completing many of the core components of the legal and contractual framework for its LNG project in Mozambique. The progress helps position the company to advance negotiations in securing long-term LNG offtake contracts as it continues toward a final investment decision.