It’s still too soon to determine whether overall natural gas production volumes were up or not in the first quarter, with Wednesday’s report a mixed bag. ConocoPhillips (COP) and Kerr-McGee Corp. both reported gains in their upstream units from a year ago, while independents Noble Energy Inc. and Cabot Oil & Gas Inc. both reported slight declines.

Measuring its progress against an operating plan unveiled last October, ConocoPhillips reported both net income and quarterly production up for the quarter. Upstream production averaged 1.65 MMboe/d, while downstream, the company ran at 92% of capacity.

“This is the first quarter in which we can measure our progress against the operating plan we presented in November,” said CEO Jim Mulva. “Our solid operating performance allowed us to secure the benefits of higher oil and gas prices and higher worldwide refining margins. These factors contributed to our debt reduction of $1.5 billion. Also contributing to our strong performance were business improvements resulting from progress made on implementing the synergy initiatives we incorporated into our 2003 operating plans.”

Within its exploration and production segment, ConocoPhillips saw improved results from a year ago not only because of higher commodity prices, but also increased production with the addition of Conoco’s upstream assets. In the United States, COP produced 44,000 bbl of natural gas liquids, up from 28,000 bbl a year ago. Of that total, 25,000 bbl was produced from Alaskan assets, while 19,000 bbl was from Lower 48 properties. Total worldwide NGL production was 67,000 bbl for the quarter compared with 37,000 bbl a year earlier.

For the quarter, ConocoPhillips produced 1,427 MMcf/d in the United States, with 189 MMcf/d from Alaska and 1,338 MMcf/d from the Lower 48. A year ago, gas production in the United States totaled 902 MMcf/d, with 168 MMcf/d from Alaska and 734 MMcf/d from Lower 48 assets. Total gas production worldwide for the quarter was 3,605 MMcf/d, compared with 1,349 MMcf/d. COP also had 130 million bbl/d of liquefied natural gas sales in the quarter, up from 117 million bbl a year ago.

Independent Kerr-McGee Corp., based in Oklahoma City, said natural gas sales averaged 761 MMcf/d in the quarter, up 5% from a year ago. CEO Luke R. Corbett said the company completed $1 billion worth of noncore property sales, and said proceeds were used to repay debt and strengthen the balance sheet.

“Our 2003 exploratory drilling program already has seen success in the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea and China’s Bohai [Bay]” said Corbett. “Recent confirmation of the Constitution and Hornet fields in the Gulf is very encouraging, as we hope both become potential developments that could enhance production volumes in future years.”

At Noble Energy Inc. based in Houston, CEO Charles D. Davidson noted that high commodity prices had a strong “positive” impact for the company’s quarterly results, and its “domestic drilling and production programs are off to a strong start this year, resulting in growth in domestic production over the fourth quarter of 2002.”

Compared with a year earlier, Noble’s first quarter production volumes declined 1% to 101,235 boe/d from 102,416 boe/d. The decline in volumes was attributed to natural decline rates for domestic natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico and the onshore Gulf Coast region, partially offset by increased international volumes from China, Ecuador and Equatorial Guinea. However, the first quarter production was higher than that for the fourth quarter of 2002, with overall volumes increasing more than 4% from 96,898 boe/d.

“Domestic operations had a production increase of 0.5% compared to the fourth quarter 2002,” said Davidson. International volumes increased 14% compared with the fourth quarter, primarily because of increased crude oil volumes from production in China.

Meanwhile, Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Co. may be one of the few producers reporting income losses for the quarter because of a $54 million field impairment on its Kurten field and $6.8 million for accounting changes. Also, consistent with its guidance, Cabot’s production was off 3% compared with a year ago and also slightly off its fourth quarter production volumes.

Cabot reported quarterly equivalent production of 21.9 Bcfe, compared with 22.5 Bcfe a year ago. Total gas production was 17.2 Bcf compared with 18.4 Bcf a year ago.

“Operationally we continued to make progress through our accelerated development drilling program that yielded a 96% success rate and the Hayworth exploration project that is now producing 13 MMcfe/d (gross),” said CEO Dan O. Dinges. “We have also positioned the company for future opportunities in the Gulf Coast with our success at the recent offshore lease sale and in Canada with the first quarter opening of our office in Calgary.”

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