XTO posts strong earnings

Petroleum News Houston staff

Exploration and production independent XTO Energy scored impressive production gains in the 2003 second quarter that helped soften the impact of lower commodity following a high-flying first quarter.

Fort Worth, Texas-based XTO said July 22 that it had second-quarter natural gas production of 631,000 million cubic per day, representing a nearly 7 percent increase from the previous quarter’s 591,000 million cubic feet per day, and a 26 percent increase compared to the 502,000 million cubic feet per day the company produced in last year’s second quarter.

The company said increased output in the second quarter was largely the result of development activities in East Texas and the Arkoma and San Juan basins.

XTO said that because of acquisitions and continued development drilling, it was raising its production target for the rest of this year to 675,000 to 685,000 million cubic feet per day for the third quarter and to 690,000 to 700,000 million cubic feet for the fourth quarter. Compared to last year’s second quarter, XTO’s net income rose 66 percent to $57.3 million or 32 cents per share. Howaever, compared to this year’s first quarter, company earnings fell 13 percent from $66.2 million or 39 cents per share.