Noble

A voluntary first-in-the-nation effort to start a baseline groundwater quality sampling program before and after drilling was announced Tuesday as a joint effort among oil/gas producers, Gov. John Hickenlooper and the state Department of Natural Resources at an annual energy conference in Denver hosted by the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA).

The Ticonderoga field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, jointly owned by Kerr-McGee Corp. and Noble Energy Inc., achieved first production last week, nearly two months ahead of schedule. Ticonderoga, operated by Kerr-McGee, holds an estimated 30-50 million boe and has reached peak production volumes of 20,000 bbl/d of oil and 15 MMcf/d of natural gas.

Just as they did in the U.S. onshore and in the shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), the independents eventually will usurp the majors as the top producers in the deepwater GOM, Noble Energy CEO Chuck Davidson said last week.

Just as they did in the U.S. onshore and in the shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), the independents eventually will usurp the majors as the top producers in the deepwater GOM, Noble Energy CEO Chuck Davidson said Monday.

Noble Energy reported a 70% jump in second quarter net income to $29.1 million, or 51 cents per share. Discretionary cash flow increased 26% to $152.3 million. Excluding the effect of a non-cash write down of assets held for sale, net income would have been $32.3 million, or 56 cents per share. The increase in reported net income and discretionary cash flow was primarily a result of higher realized commodity prices. Realized natural gas prices were up 34% to $4.11/Mcf and realized crude oil prices were up 6% to $25.84/bbl. The company’s improved financial performance also resulted from the recent start-up of two significant international projects, production from the Cheng Dao Xi (CDX) field in south Bohai Bay offshore China and production from the company’s offshore Amistad natural gas field and associated electrical power production in Ecuador. Compared to the first quarter 2003, domestic production volumes increased 6% to 69,033 Boe/d but compared to 2Q02 production were down 3% due to natural decline rates in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore Gulf Coast region. The company plans to drill a total of 72 onshore wells in 2003, of which 37 are scheduled for the Gulf Coast area and 35 are scheduled for the Midcontinent and Rocky Mountain areas.

Noble Affiliate Inc.’s board of directors has approved an expanded program to repurchase common stock from time to time in the open market or privately negotiated transactions. The Houston company’s original program of $50 million has been increased to $100 million, and of the $100 million now authorized, about $70 million remains available to purchase additional shares. The company has already repurchased $30 million of stock and intends to hold all of the repurchased stock shares as treasury shares. As of Aug. 6, there were 56.6 million shares of issued and outstanding common stock.