While the Federal Trade Commission considers the merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy of Houston, Southwestern’s debt just grew with the release of its first quarter earnings report.
The company reported a net loss of $1.5 billion or $1.39 per diluted share. Southwestern’s total debt, as of March 31 of this year came to $4 billion.
The firm indicated it managed to generate $496 million net cash from its operating activities and $131 million in adjusted net income. It had net production of 376 Bcfe or 4.1 Bcfe a day including 3.6 Bcf a day of gas and 93 MBbls a day of liquids.
During the quarter, Southwestern placed 18 wells to sales including 6 in Appalachia and 12 in the Haynesville play. The placement of the wells to sales came as the company drilled 29 wells and completed 27 of them. Its total net production was comprised of 86% natural gas, 12% NGLs and 2% oil.
Southwestern’s capital investments for those wells totaled $538 million during the first quarter. Its financial report described the cap-ex as being “consistent with the Company’s moderately front-end loaded capital program.”
The quarterly report indicated that because of the pending merger with Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Southwestern Energy “has discontinued providing guidance” and it did not plan to host a conference call or webcast to discuss the results.