News wire — Oil and gas producer Hess Corp beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit and disclosed a new discovery offshore Guyana by a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp.
The discovery at the Lancetfish-1 well on the Stabroek Block is the latest by the group, which has made more than 30 discoveries in the South American country’s offshore waters since 2015. Hess holds a 30% stake in the consortium.
Hess said the consortium sold nine cargos of crude oil from Guyana in the first quarter ended March 31, compared with two cargos in the year-ago quarter.
However, the Kokwari-1 exploration well, which was drilled during the quarter, did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons, Hess said.
New-York based Hess on Wednesday raised its full-year production outlook by nearly 3% to 365,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) to 375,000 boepd, citing strong operational performance during the first three months of 2023.
For the reported quarter, net production rose 35.5% to 374,000 boepd, primarily due to higher output in Guyana and the North Dakota’s Bakken shale field.
Shares of the company rose 2% to $143.94 in early trading.
On a per share basis, the company reported a profit of $1.13 for the first quarter and an adjusted profit of $1.30.
Analysts had expected a profit of $1.06 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
Wall Street analysts viewed the results as positive.
“Hess surprisingly hiked FY23 production guidance by 3%, a move that should be well received on the heels of core Guyana outperformance,” said TD Cowen analyst.
Hess said its worldwide average realized crude oil selling price, excluding hedges, fell 19% to $76.02 per barrel in the reported quarter.
Benchmark Brent crude prices averaged $81.24 a barrel in the first three months of 2023, nearly 20% lower than last year. Crude prices surged to multi-year highs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tightened supplies.
Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila – Reuters
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