HOUSTON — Noble Energy reported its third quarter net income had more than doubled, as the company hit a sales volume record while prices remained high.
The Houston-based exploration and production company reported a third-quarter net income of $419 million, up from $205 million in the same period the previous year. Despite the increase, the company reported an earnings per share of 28 cents, below the expectations of analysts at 36 cents per share, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Noble also said its total sales volumes averaged 302,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, its highest ever and an increase of three percent for the same period last year. The company said that the growth would be 10 percent after taking into account assets that Noble has sold since Q3 2013. The production figures were in line with or slightly below analyst estimates.
In a note to clients, energy investment bank and analyst firm Simmons & Co. International said “while the headline [earnings per share] miss may create some shock value vs. Street expectations, we view this quarter as largely in line with expectations.”
The company reported strong growth from horizontal well production, with the northern Colorado DJ Basin up 30 percent and Marcellus horizontal production up 95 percent, both year over year. Noble estimated that the increase would continue with an expected 20 percent gain from the third to fourth quarter of 2014.
On a call discussing the earnings, Noble executives addressed falling oil prices early on. Chairman and former CEO Charles Davidson said that Noble’s diversified assets would allow it to weather volatile prices better than most. Executives also said that the company was well-hedged and would be paying careful attention to its balance sheet as commodity prices changed.
Noble reported an adjusted income of $110 million and a quarterly capital expenditure of $1.3 billion.
The company said it anticipates fourth quarter 2014 volumes to range from 307,000 to 327,000 barrels of equivalent per day.
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