Unrealized

San Antonio-based Abraxas Petroleum Corp. is finalizing talks to sell its 25% working interest in the Nordheim Project in the Eagle Ford Shale to an institutional buyer for about $20 million, the company said Monday.

Like many, but not all, producers, Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. has shifted to oil because that’s where the profits are.

These days with no end to decade-low gas prices in sight, Newfield Exploration Co. CEO Lee Boothby can’t wait to be in charge of an oil-weighted production company, and it’s going to happen soon, he said Wednesday. Newfield has put down the dry gas drillbit and is focusing intently on oil and liquids-rich plays.

SM Energy Co. raised its guidance for 2011 and introduced plans for 2012 that surpass what analysts were expecting as company executives emphasized a sharpened focus on the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.

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.