Weighted

McMoRan Exploration Co., which has built a sizable natural gas-weighted portfolio in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico — and with it sizable drilling costs — saw its share price fall by double digits early last week after reporting a net loss in 3Q2010 of $25.3 million (minus 26 cents/share). Revenue in the latest quarter fell almost 13% from a year ago to $94.8 million.

Encana Corp. increased its onshore natural gas-weighted production in 3Q2010, but sustained low gas prices led the producer to cut its output guidance for the year.

McMoRan Exploration Co., which has built a sizable natural gas-weighted portfolio in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico — and with it sizable drilling costs — saw its share price fall by double digits on Monday after reporting a net loss in 3Q2010 of $25.3 million (minus 26 cents/share). Revenue in the latest quarter fell almost 13% from a year ago to $94.8 million.

Northern Natural Gas said it is declaring a System Underrun Limitation for all market-area zones effective Saturday due to “significantly greater system-weighted temperatures compared to normal.” The pipeline’s bulletin board said the normal system temperature is 53 degrees at this time of year, but it projected averages of 60, 67, 66 and 63 for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

With most U.S.-based exploration and production (E&P) companies weighted 70% or more to natural gas, “taking advantage of pricing disparity toward natural gas liquids [NGL] continues to lead E&Ps to process more of their gas,” Madison Williams & Co. analyst Andrew Coleman said Friday.

With most U.S.-based exploration and production (E&P) companies weighted 70% or more to natural gas, “taking advantage of pricing disparity toward natural gas liquids [NGL] continues to lead E&Ps to process more of their gas,” Madison Williams & Co. analyst Andrew Coleman said Friday.

XTO Energy Inc., which is to become a part of ExxonMobil Corp. by the end of June (see NGI, May 3), said natural gas-weighted production in 1Q2010 was 6% higher than in the year-ago period, climbing to 2.90 Bcfe/d from 2.73 Bcf/d. Natural gas output averaged 2.40 Bcf/d compared with 2.23 Bcf/d in 1Q2009. Total revenues were $2 billion in 1Q2010, down 7% from $2.16 billion the prior year. Earnings in 1Q2010 also were down at $330 million (56 cents/share) from $486 million (84 cents). Operating income was $656 million, or 26% below 1Q2009’s $881 million. Operating cash flow fell 16% to $1.25 billion from $1.49 billion.

XTO Energy Inc., which is expected to soon become a part of ExxonMobil Corp., on Wednesday reported that its natural gas-weighted production in the first three months of 2010 was 6% higher than in the year-ago period, climbing to 2.90 Bcfe/d from 2.73 Bcf/d.

SandRidge Energy Inc., which up to now has explored almost exclusively for natural gas, last week agreed to acquire oil-weighted producer Arena Resources Inc. in a deal worth $1.6 billion.