EIA: Brent down 5% in Q1 over Q1 2018

In key first quarter findings released July 22, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Brent crude oil prices averaged 5% lower in the first quarter of this year, compared to first-quarter 2018, averaging $64 per barrel. In its first quarter 2018 release EIA said Brent was up 23% from the first quarter 2017, averaging more than $60 per barrel for the second consecutive quarter.

EIA’s “Financial Review of the Global Oil and Natural Gas Industry” looks at 119 companies. In the first quarter of 2019 these companies increased combined liquids production 4.3% from the first quarter of 2018, increasing natural gas production 2.3% in the same period. In the first quarter of 2018 liquids production was up 1% over the first quarter of 2017, and natural gas production was up 3%.

EIA found that for the first quarter of the year nearly two-fifths of the companies were “free cash flow positive - that is, they generated more cash from operations than their capital expenditures.” In the first quarter of 2018 EIA found that about one-third of the companies had positive free cash flow, with 88% reporting positive upstream earnings in the first quarter of 2018.

The analysis is focused on financial and operating trends of 119 global oil and natural gas companies, with data from public financial statements, the agency said.

- KRISTEN NELSON