Harold Hamm, founder and CEO of Continental Resources Inc. in Oklahoma City says the first quarter of 2019 has been every bit successful as the company was in 2018.
“We saw 2018 become the breakout year we envisioned and 2019 has proven to be equally fulfilling as our teams embrace the strategic shift to unit development within these larger project areas, all across our broad oil rich inventory,” he told an earnings call Tuesday. “We have initiated the first year of our five-year vision for sustainable, cash flow positive and oil-weighted growth to again almost double production.”
The company reported net income of $187 million or 50 cents per diluted share for the quarter that ended March 31, 2019. Adjusted net income for the first quarter was $216.6 million or 58 cents per diluted share. The company’s net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter was $721.5 million.
As OK Energy Today reported earlier, the company saw first quarter production increase 16 percent over a year earlier averaging 332,236 Boe per day. The first quarter oil production was up 18 percent over the first quarter of 2018.
Hamm told investors and analysts the company’s latest technological and cost-efficient completion optimization to legacy areas in the Bakken resulted in “tremendous success.”
“These results confirm what we’ve been saying about the Bakken and it continues to get better as the nation’s leading high quality oil play, and our Bakken production grew by more than 15,500 BOE per day for 8 percent growth quarter over quarter,” he said.
As for the company’s Springboard area of the SCOOP in Oklahoma, production is forging ahead of forecast according to Hamm, “with the first 28 days of April averaging approximately 14,000 barrels of oil per day.”
He cited faster cycle times by the company’s drilling and completion crews in Oklahoma, resulting in lower drill days, a move that will give the company the option of further reducing rig activity later in the year.