American oil producer, Hess Corporation reported on Wednesday that it made a net income of US$119 million, or US$0.39 per share, in the second quarter of 2023. This represents a significant dip in revenues when compared with net income of US$667 million, or US$2.15 per share, in the second quarter of 2022.
Hess explained that the US$548M decrease, reflective of an 82 percent decline in adjusted after-tax profits, was due to lower realized selling prices. Be that as it may, the oil producer noted that higher production volumes in Guyana and the Bakken kept its balance sheet out of the red zone.
Hess noted that net production was 387,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boepd) in the second quarter of 2023, compared with 303,000 boepd, proforma for assets sold, in the second quarter of 2022, primarily due to higher production in Guyana and the Bakken.
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Expounding on the production numbers for the Bakken, Hess said it was 181,000 boepd in the second quarter of 2023 compared with 140,000 boepd in the prior year’s quarter. Hess said this reflects increased drilling and completion activity, higher Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) and natural gas volumes received under the percentage of proceeds contracts due to lower commodity prices, and higher uptime after weather-related shut-ins in the prior year’s quarter.
The American explorer said NGL and natural gas volumes received under the percentage of proceeds contracts were 22,000 boepd in the second quarter of 2023 compared with 7,000 boepd in the second quarter of 2022 due to lower realized NGL and natural gas prices increasing volumes received as consideration for gas processing fees.
During the second quarter of 2023, the corporation said it drilled 32 wells, completed 28 wells, and brought 30 new wells online.
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With respect to production at Guyana’s Stabroek Block where Hess holds a 30% working interest, the company said net production from the Liza Destiny and the Liza Unity floating production, storage, and offloading vessels (FPSOs) totaled 110,0002 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in the second quarter of 2023 compared with 67,0002 bopd in the prior-year quarter.
Hess said the Liza Unity FPSO, which commenced production in February 2022, reached its production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross bopd in July 2022. In the second quarter of 2023, Hess also said it sold nine cargos of crude oil from Guyana compared with six cargos in the prior year’s quarter.
With Guyana and the Bakken as the star players in its asset portfolio, Hess Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Hess maintains that his company is well positioned to deliver industry-leading cash flow growth and financial returns to shareholders while safely and responsibly producing oil and gas to help meet the world’s growing energy needs.
A comprehensive report on the company’s fiscal performance is expected to be presented by Hess and other executives during its 2023 second-quarter earnings call shortly.
