Noncash

Range Resources Inc., which two years ago turned away from the Barnett Shale and toward the Marcellus Shale, saw its overall production boom in 3Q2012, based in large part on a surge of Marcellus gas, according to CEO Jeff Ventura.

Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources Co. reported a 9% sequential increase in production for the fourth quarter and attributed the success to “three core liquids-rich growth assets in Texas.” In light of low prices for dry gas, the company has tweaked some of its drilling plans while it continues to high-grade liquids-rich drilling.

It’s no secret that weak prices have made natural gas a stepchild to oil and natural gas liquids (NGL), but perhaps nowhere else is the clean-burning stuff more out of favor than in the halls of Houston-based EOG Resources Inc., where CEO Mark Papa can’t seem to distance himself from the Mcfs fast enough.

Two big-ticket acquisitions in the Fayetteville Shale by BHP Billiton Petroleum and XTO Energy Inc. suggest that the pace of development in the play will be accelerating, acknowledged Steve Mueller, CEO of Fayetteville veteran Southwestern Energy Co. But his company can hold its own, having locked in some of its costs and beaten down drilling times, Mueller said.

A new quarterly production record and reduced costs at Ultra Petroleum Corp. in 3Q2009 weren’t enough to overcome a noncash unrealized mark-to-market charge of $145 million on the company’s financial commodity contracts and the continued decline in natural gas prices, resulting in a loss of $8.33 million (minus 6 cents/share) compared with a profit of $116.9 million (74 cents) in 3Q2008, the Houston-based company said Friday.

A new quarterly production record and reduced costs at Ultra Petroleum Corp. in 3Q2009 weren’t enough to overcome a noncash unrealized mark-to-market charge of $145 million on the company’s financial commodity contracts and the continued decline in natural gas prices, resulting in a loss of $8.33 million (minus 6 cents/share) compared with a profit of $116.9 million (74 cents) in 3Q2008, the Houston-based company said Friday.

Following the absorption of a noncash $1.4 billion impairment of goodwill related to its Oil Sands Mining segment, Marathon Oil Corp. reported Tuesday a 4Q2008 net loss of $41 million, or minus 6 cent/share, compared with net income in 4Q2007 of $668 million, or 94 cents/share. Marathon’s management also announced that due to the current economic recession the company has shelved its plans to divide its operations into two separate entities.