Gulfport Energy Corporation saw increased oil production and adjusted earnings in the third quarter but still recorded a net loss of $14 million.
As a result, the Oklahoma City energy company reduced guidance by 4% for drilling and completion capital expenditures. The firm had $61.8 million of adjusted net income and $178.1 million of adjusted EBITDA, above the expectations of analysts.
The firm pointed to a 68% increase in produced total net oil production of 4.6 MBbl per day compared to the second quarter of the year. Its total net production of 1.06 Bcfe a day comprised of approximately 91% natural gas, 6% natural gas liquids and 3% oil and condensate. It do so with incurred capital expenditures of $82.5 million, which was below analyst consensus expectations.
The third quarter report released Tuesday showed Gulfport generated $189.7 million in net cash from its operating activities and $72.6 million of adjusted free cash flow, also more than the analysts had expected.
During the quarter, the company completed $19.8 million in acreage acquisitions and repurchased approximately 341,000 shares for about $49.9 million. Gulfport took the step of expanding its common stock repurchase authorization by 54% to $1 billion.
“Gulfport’s third quarter results continued to benefit from the operating momentum that we have built throughout this year and as we announced in August, the Company expects to realize over $25 million in capital savings on our drilling and completion activities during 2024,” said John Reinhart, President and CEO.
“Based on the current commodity price environment, we have elected to allocate the majority of these savings to incremental shareholder returns through our recently expanded common share repurchase program. As a result, we are lowering our full year 2024 capital guidance.”
He credited the firm’s four-owell Utica play condensate pad in Harrison County, Ohio with increasing the company’s average daily oil production since the last quarter.
“As we close out 2024 and expect an improving 2025 natural gas macro environment, we forecast accelerating adjusted free cash flow generation for our business, highlighting our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our focus on enhancing margins and optimizing efficiencies,” added Reinhart.