Marathon Oil misses profit estimates on weak natural gas prices

Marathon Oil

07/08/2024 22:18

Aug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas firm Marathon Oil
 MRO.N  missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit
on Wednesday, hurt by a fall in natural gas prices.
    U.S. gas prices dropped as mild weather pressured demand and
on a rise in stored volumes due to inadequate pipeline capacity.
    Marathon Oil said its average realized price for natural gas
in the U.S. declined 24.9% to $1.42 per thousand cubic feet
(mcf).
    A fall in natural gas prices also led to an earnings miss at
rival Coterra Energy  CTRA.N  last week.
    Shares of Marathon Oil, which had agreed to sell itself to
ConocoPhillips  COP.N  for $22.5 billion in May, fell 1.7% after
the bell.
    The company said its total quarterly production declined to
393,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), compared with
399,000 boepd produced a year earlier, due to a fall in natural
gas and liquids output.
    "Total company oil and oil-equivalent production are
expected to peak during the third quarter, with oil production
rising to approximately 200,000 net bpd, before moderating into
the fourth quarter," the company said.
    Marathon Oil posted adjusted earnings of 63 cents per share
for the three months ended June 30, compared with analysts'
average estimate of 69 cents per share, according to LSEG data. 
  

 (Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed
Safi Shamsi and Shilpi Majumdar)
 ((Sourasis.Bose@thomsonreuters.com))