Montage Resources is the latest E&P company reducing full-year 2019 capital spending (Capex), Kallanish Energy reports.
The company said it has reduced second half 2019 activity levels from two rigs to one rig, resulting in lowered capital spending of $30 million in the Appalachian Basin.
The reason for the reduction is low commodity prices, it said.
The company, with headquarters in Irving, Texas, lowered capital spending guidance for the rest of 2019 by 8%, to between $345 million and $370 million. That is near the mid-point of the company’s previously issued guidance range.
It is also raising its full-year 2019 production guidance by 3%, or about 15 million cubic feet-equivalent per day (Mmcfe/d).
In Q2 2019, the company reported average net production of 535.5 Mmcfe/d — a 75.3% increase from production of 305.5 Mmcfe/d one year earlier.
Total production in the quarter was 48.73 billion cubic feet-equivalent (Bcfe), up from 27.80 Bcfe in Q2 2018.
Its average realized natural gas equivalent price in the quarter was $2.94 per Mcfe, excluding derivatives and transportation costs.
The company reported net income in the second quarter was $27.5 million, or 77 cents per share, on revenue of $155.5 million. That revenue is up 50% year-over-year. That compares to a net loss of $19.0 million, or 95 cents a share, in Q2 2018.
President and CEO John Reinhart in a statement said the company successfully renegotiated an advantageous processing contract with an existing midstream provider on its Marcellus Shale acreage in Ohio.
In the quarter, the company began drilling 12 gross (10.2 net) operated wells, commenced completions of 15 gross (13.0 net) operated wells, and turned to sales 16 gross (11.4 net) operated wells.
The company spent $115.3 million in capital spending in the most recent quarter.
Montage Resources was renamed after the merger of Eclipse Resources and Blue Ridge Mountain Resources. That deal closed last February.
It’s operations are in the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays in Pennsylvania. West Virginia and Ohio. The company has offices in State College, Pennsylvania, and Irving, Texas.