Coterra Energy quarterly profit slumps as gas prices tumble
Aug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas producer Coterra Energy joined its peers in posting a sharp drop in quarterly profit on Monday, as gas prices scaled back from last year's peaks, sending its shares down about 2% in extended trading.
U.S. natural gas prices averaged 63% lower during the reported quarter compared to last year when they had soared following supply concerns propelled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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Excluding hedges, Houston-Texas based Coterra's average realized price for natural gas fell 71.5% to $1.65 per thousand cubic feet from a year earlier.
Peer Chesapeake Energy has posted a 68% fall in second-quarter profit, hit by lower prices and production.
Coterra posted a net income of $209 million, or $0.28 per share, for the second quarter ended June 30, compared with $1.23 billion, or $1.53 per share, a year earlier.
Total production rose 5.2% to 665,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) for the reported quarter, aided by strong well performances.
"Volumes exceeded the high end of the company's guidance across the three categories of hydrocarbons and contributed to better earnings," Hennessy Energy Transition Fund's portfolio manager Ben Cook said.
On an adjusted basis, the company reported earnings of 39 cents, ahead of analysts' estimate of 34 cents, according to Refinitiv data.
Coterra, which formed after a merger between Cabot Oil & Gas and Cimarex Energy in 2021, said it expects full-year production volumes to be between 630,000 boepd and 655,000 boepd, 2% higher than its prior forecast at mid-point.
It also forecast third-quarter production in the range of 625,000 to 655,000 boepd.
"Third quarter guidance shows a decline from the second quarter in production and it certainly has to do with activity level," Cook added.
Coterra had dropped a rig at Marcellus basin in Pennsylvania during the second quarter.
(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)