Newfield 1Q gas production beats guidance

Newfield Exploration natural gas production in the first quarter bested the company's initial expectations at 401mn cf/d (11.3mn m³/d) , 7mn cf/d higher than the original guidance.

The company's total natural gas production for the first quarter amounted to 36.1 Bcf, up from 30.3Bcf in the first quarter of 2017.

Newfield's largest natural gas production gains were in the Anadarko basin, which produced 278mn cf/d in the first quarter this year, up from 274.3mn cf/d in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Production in the Williston basin fell in the first quarter to 18.2mn cf/d, down from 22mn cf/d in the previous quarter.

The give and take between the Williston and Anadarko basins is part of a broader strategy, said company executives on an earnings call yesterday. The company said it was likely to reallocate capital and resources from the Bakken region in the upper midcontinent to the southern midcontinent areas where Newfield has its most abundant acreage in the Scoop and Stack shale formations.

Newfield aims to transition its held-by-production (HBP) wells, which yield marginal oil and gas, in the Anadarko basin to the development phase of the wells by 2019, executives said on the call.