Renewable Revolution

Staff Writers  February 5, 2016   

Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum said Tuesday that it may cut its 2016 budget by 50 percent after reporting a $1.25 billion fourth quarter net loss.

The company reported a fourth quarter net loss attributable to common stockholders of $1.250 billion, or $2.45 per diluted share,  including certain items typically excluded by the investment community in published estimates.

Anadarko said these items increased the net loss by $954 million on an after-tax basis.

The company reported a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $6.69 billion for the full year of 2015, or $13.18 per diluted share.

Cash flow from operating activities in the fourth quarter of 2015 was $257 million and discretionary cash flow totaled $810 million.

Full-year 2015 net cash used in operating activities was $1.877 billion and discretionary cash flow for the year totaled $4.657 billion.

Anadarko chairman, president and CEO Al Walker said the company anticipates recommending an initial 2016 budget of $2.8 billion to its board, nearly 50 percent lower than its actual 2015 capital investments and almost 70 percent lower than its 2014 spend.

“As we consider capital allocation for 2016, greater market dislocation appears likely, and the need to again materially lower our capital spending, while continuing to pursue value creation and  preservation, is our best course of action,” Walker said.

Walker added that the company reduced its spending in 2015 by more than $3 billion year-over-year, down nearly 40 percent from 2014.

Anadarko’s full-year sales volumes of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids totaled 305 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), or an average of 836,000 boe per day.

Fourth quarter 2015 sales volumes of crude oil, natural gas and NGLs averaged  779,000 boe per day.

Anadarko said it organically added 407 million boe of proved reserves in 2015 before the effects of price revisions and incurred oil and natural gas exploration and development costs of $5.8 billion.

The company estimates its proved reserves as of the end of 2015 totaled  2.06 billion boe, with nearly 80 percent of its reserves categorized as proved developed.

At year-end 2015, Anadarko’s proved reserves were comprised of 52 percent liquids and 48 percent natural gas.

Anadarko said it ended 2015 with $939 million of cash on hand, an amount that reflects remittance of the $5.2 billion final payment resolving the Tronox Adversary Proceeding.

“As discussed last year at this time, we did not expect oil prices to recover in 2015 and believed it could take well into 2016 before markets would stabilize on a sustained basis, costs would become more aligned with the new operating environment and investments in short-cycle assets would be more attractive. Therefore, value enhancement drove our capital-allocation philosophy,” Walker said.

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/02/anadarko-petroleum-posts-1-25-billion-q4-loss/