A surprise quarterly loss posted by Whiting Petroleum on Wednesday. As a lack of natural gas infrastructure hits prices, the company decided to sell its assets. A 33 percent job cut also announced by the oil and gas producer.
Over the past three years, the US output has been more than doubled. The country now is the largest oil producer in the world. Gas cannot be transported by truck or stored in tanks. Any gas excess has to be re-injected into the ground or burned. The producers have to spend more money on this.
Average realized prices for oil fell about 2 percent in Q2, while 64 percent drop seen for natural gas. To save about $50 million in costs annually, Whiting had cut about 254 positions.
Whiting Petroleum also cut the forecast for its full-year production from 46.7 million boe to between 45 to 46.5 million boe. Production in Q2 rose only about 1 percent to 127,870 boepd. After it posted a loss of 28 cents per share, Whiting’s shares fell 15 percent.
