(Reuters) -Occidental Petroleum missed second-quarter profit expectations due to slide in oil and gas prices, sending the shares of the U.S. producer down about 3% in extended trading on Wednesday.
The company’s average realized price for oil fell to $73.59 per barrel for the April-June quarter from $107.72 a year ago.
Oil and gas prices soared last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but energy prices have dropped sharply this year as fears of shortages eased amid global economic challenges.
Benchmark Brent crude prices averaged $80 a barrel in the second quarter of 2023, compared with $110 a year ago.
The lower oil prices were still lucrative for oil producers and Occidental’s production in the quarter rose to 1.22 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 1.15 million boepd a year earlier.
Occidental raised its full year production forecast on the back of higher-than-expected output in the second quarter. The company had said in May that it expected second-quarter production to be the lowest this year.
Results were also impacted by impairment charges related to the Powder River Basin, where Occidental has determined not to pursue future exploration and appraisal activities.
Occidental had interest in over 300,000 net acres in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming at the end of 2022 and had planned to run one drilling rig in 2023 with targeted completions activity throughout the year, according to its annual report.
The Houston-based company posted adjusted profit of 68 cents per share for the quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 72 cents, according to Refinitiv data.
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
