Jordan Blum
Houston's Noble Energy reported a $313 million quarterly loss Friday as it gears up for big growth from West Texas to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Noble's loss compares to a $554 million profit a year ago. Noble's first-quarter revenues also fell from $1.29 billion in 2018 down to $1.05 billion at the start of 2019.
However, Noble said it is growing production and keeping costs down as it develops its large acreage holdings in West Texas' booming Permian Basin that it has acquired within the last four years.
Also, Noble plans to bring its massive Leviathan natural gas project offshore of Israel online by the end of this year. Noble said Friday that the project is 81 percent complete.
"Our onshore accomplishments in 2019 include lower well costs in each of our basins, reduced cycle times and strong production," said Noble Chief Executive David Stover. "Offshore, we are uniquely positioned with world-class international projects ... and, by the end of the year, Leviathan is expected to be generating significant new cash flow for our company."
Although it is gearing up in the Permian's emerging Delaware Basin, Noble is leaning on its extensive DJ Basin position in Colorado for much of its output now. More than 40 percent of Noble's global oil and gas production is from the DJ Basin, which is churning out at record volumes.
In early April, Noble said it partnered with Houston's Marathon Oil to boost liquefied natural gas export sales from the West African nation Equatorial Guinea. Noble will lead the gas development of the offshore Alen field and, after the gas is processed, it will feed into Marathon's liquefied natural gas plant in Punta Europa in Bioko.
The project is expected to come online in 2021.
In South America, Noble in March teamed up with Royal Dutch Shell to explore offshore regions of Colombia.
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