Quarterly / Earnings Reports | Second Quarter (2Q) Update | Financial Results | Capital Markets | Drilling Activity | Curtailment/Shut-In

Noble Energy Inc. Second Quarter 2020 Results

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   |    Monday,August 03,2020

Noble Energy, Inc. reported its Q2 2020 results.

CEO David Stover said: "Noble Energy's second quarter results reflect strong operational execution against the backdrop of the challenging global economic environment that impacted financial outcomes across our industry. Through the recent pandemic, our teams have stayed focused on safety, returns, and cost control, and I am pleased with our accomplishments in the first half of the year. On July 20^th, we announced our intention to combine with Chevron. We look forward to closing the transaction in the fourth quarter."

Second Quarter 2020 Results

The Company reported second quarter net loss attributable to Noble Energy of $408 million, or $0.85 per diluted share. Excluding items impacting comparability, the Company generated adjusted net loss and adjusted net loss per share⁽¹⁾ attributable to Noble Energy for the quarter of $114 million or $0.24 per diluted share.

Net cash provided by operating activities was ($82) million and was impacted by a working capital change in the quarter of ($303) million, reflecting the slowdown of capital activity from first quarter levels. Adjusted EBITDAX⁽¹⁾ was $307 million. Second quarter capital expenditures funded by Noble Energy were $102 million, with $62 million related to U.S. onshore activities and $32 million invested in the offshore business between Israel and West Africa. Noble Midstream Partner's (NASDAQ:NBLX) capital expenditures totaled $8 million for the quarter.

During the second quarter, the Company repaid $675 million of the $1 billion revolver draw which occurred in the first quarter of 2020. Financial liquidity at the end of the second quarter 2020 totaled $4 billion, comprising $324 million of cash on hand and revolver borrowing capacity of $3.7 billion.

Sales volumes for the quarter averaged 350 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d), with the U.S. onshore assets averaging 248 MBoe/d, West Africa sales of 50 MBoe/d and Israel averaging 311 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d). Oil sales volumes totaled 130 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d).

Revenues for the second quarter 2020 were impacted by weak commodity pricing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply/demand factors. The Company's U.S. onshore oil price realizations (before hedges) averaged $22.30 per barrel and NGL pricing averaged $7.51 per barrel. The Company's realized natural gas price in the U.S. onshore averaged $1.16 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf). In Equatorial Guinea, approximately three-fourths of the Company's oil sales occurred in the month of May, driving the quarterly average realization of $23.87 per barrel. Natural gas realizations in Israel averaged $5.00 per Mcf. During the second quarter, Noble Energy's hedge portfolio delivered $106 million in cash proceeds, primarily from oil positions.

Unit production expenses for the quarter were $6.72 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE), including lease operating expenses, production taxes, gathering, transportation and processing expenses, and other royalty costs. Cost initiatives and continuous improvement efforts focused on reducing contract labor, workover expenses, chemicals and all other variable costs. Production curtailments during the second quarter were focused on higher cost wells, also benefitting second quarter absolute and unit costs.

Marketing and Other, including sales and costs of purchased oil and gas, netted to $24 million of expense for the quarter, primarily reflecting mitigation of firm transportation costs. Depreciation, depletion and amortization was $10.05 per BOE, down meaningfully from prior periods reflecting a lower Delaware Basin depletion rate going forward. General and administrative (G&A) expenses totaled $63 million for the quarter. G&A declined as compared to the prior periods, as a result of workforce alignment efforts within the organization, reduced contractor costs and travel expenditures.

Adjustments from the Company's second quarter net loss included a $264 million loss on commodity derivative instruments, net of cash settlements. In addition, the Company recorded a $51 million asset impairment related to the Felicita project in Equatorial Guinea and $30 million in corporate restructuring costs that were included in other operating expense.

Income from equity method investment and other totaled $3 million for the second quarter, with income generated from the Company's interest in Alba Plant and AMPCO Methanol in Equatorial Guinea, offset by a net loss from Noble Midstream's pipeline investments.

The Company's effective tax rate on adjusted earnings was approximately 17%. On this basis, current tax expense was $19 million, resulting from the income generated in West Africa and Israel. Deferred taxes were a benefit of $38 million on this same basis.

Q2 Ops Summary

Sales volumes from the Company's U.S. onshore assets totaled 248 MBoe/d in the second quarter, with the DJ Basin contributing 144 MBoe/d, the Delaware averaging 63 MBoe/d, and Eagle Ford of 41 MBoe/d. During the quarter, the Company operated 1.5 rigs (1.0 DJ and 0.5 Delaware) and drilled 19 wells (16 DJ and 3 Delaware) onshore. Early in the quarter, Noble Energy completed 6 wells (4 DJ and 2 Delaware) and commenced production on 22 new wells (16 DJ and 6 Delaware).

The Company curtailed on average approximately 11 MBbl/d (30 MBoe/d) on a net basis for the second quarter 2020. Approximately 80 percent of these curtailments were in the DJ Basin, with the remainder in the Delaware, and minimal impact to the Eagle Ford. With significant improvements to operating costs and netback pricing, the majority of curtailed volumes were brought back on production by the end of July 2020.

Safety performance during the second quarter was exceptional with all activities completed without a recordable incident.

Second quarter 2020 sales volumes from Tamar and Leviathan totaled 1.09 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day, gross, combined. As compared to the first quarter of the year, volumes were lower by approximately 23%, driven by the demand impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the normal seasonal weather-based decline experienced in the second quarter. Net sales volumes to Noble Energy for the quarter were 311 MMcfe/d.

Following startup on December 31, 2019, the Leviathan field has performed in the top-tier of all offshore major projects. During the second quarter 2020, field and facility uptime averaged in excess of 99%. Noble Energy finalized the commissioning of additional compression onshore at the Ashkelon metering station in Israel during the month of July, to increase the capacity throughput for higher sales volumes into Egypt via the EMG Pipeline.

Sales volumes for Equatorial Guinea averaged 50 MBoe/d, including 16 MBbl/d of crude oil. Strong base field performance continues at the Company's operated Aseng and Alen fields, as well as the non-operated Alba field and onshore facilities. The Equatorial Guinea assets continue to operate at the highest safety standards with the Alen platform reaching six years without a recordable incident during the quarter.

Despite impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Alen Gas Monetization project continues to progress towards an early 2021 start-up. During July, the shore crossing site preparation for connecting the Alen natural gas pipeline to the onshore facilities continued. Offshore pipeline installation remains on schedule for the third quarter. During the second quarter, the Company initiated hedge positions to secure global LNG revenues for a portion of expected 2021 and 2022 gas revenues.