Devon Energy (DVN) beats by $0.41
* Devon Energy Corp., the largest U.S.-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company, said Wednesday its first-quarter profit rose 15 percent as higher prices and production offset one-time charges and increased expenses.
* Excluding one-time charges -- including a $780 million loss on derivatives instruments due to rising natural gas prices -- the company posted earnings per share of $2.74.
* Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings per share of $2.33.
* Production rose 9 percent over the year-earlier quarter to 640,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company's average price of natural gas rose to $8.03 per thousand cubic feet, from $6.77 per thousand cubic feet, and the average price of crude oil rose to $97.67 per 42-gallon barrel, from $58.33 per barrel.
* Combined, the company's average oil, gas and natural-gas liquids production from continuing operations was 640,000 oil-equivalent barrels a day, up 9%. The production growth was concentrated in onshore fields within the United States and Canada.
* Devon's net production from the Barnett Shale field in northern Texas averaged a record 995 million cubic feet of gas equivalent a day in the first quarter, up 36%. We can grow that for a long time to come. That's what's exciting," Devon CEO Larry Nichols said in a CNBC interview.
Bullish
$65.65 (03/08/07)
