24 July 2014, News Wires – US independent Noble Energy saw its second-quarter profits almost halved despite higher revenue.
The Houston-based company reported quarterly net income of $192 million, versus $377 million a year earlier, while its revenue rose to $1.38 billion from $1.15 billion in the same period of 2013.
However, Noble said its adjusted net income for the period, excluding certain items not typically factored in by analysts, actually increased to $318 million, up 27% from $250 million a year ago.
The company’s revenue was fuelled by record horizontal production of 112,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, mainly from the Denver-Julesburg basin and Marcellus shale plays in the US, that was 56% higher than the second quarter of last year.
Chief executive Charles Davidson said Noble is set to see fresh production from development of earlier Gulf of Mexico discoveries due to come online next year, having also made the recent Katmai commercial oil find in the offshore region.
It has also recently notched up a resource boost at its under-development Leviathan gas discovery off Israel, with reserves increasing 16% to 22 trillion cubic feet equivalent.
– Upstream