Whiting Petroleum Posts Narrower-Than-Expected Q1 Loss, But Sales Miss Views

reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter, but the company's revenue misses analysts' expectations. The Denver, Colorado-based company posted a quarterly loss of $106.1 million, or $0.63 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $109.1 million, or $0.92 per share. Excluding special items, Whiting Petroleum posted a loss of $0.23 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $1.06 per share. Its revenue slipped 29 percent to $529 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.32 per share on revenue of $563.48 million. The average estimate among 4 Estimize users was for a loss of $0.33 per share and revenue of $559.59 million. Its production rose 3 percent from the fourth quarter to 166,930 barrels per day in the recent quarter. James J. Volker, Whiting's Chairman, President and CEO, said, "While we are reducing rig count and well cost, production was strong in Q1 2015. We had solid results in the Bakken/Three Forks and Niobrara. Our operations in the first quarter generated record production of 166,930 BOE/d. As a result of stronger production growth in the first quarter, our production guidance is 59.1 MMBOE for 6% year-over-year production growth despite the $108 million asset sale. Our budget remains at $2 billion." Whiting Petroleum shares fell 0.71 percent to $36.50 in the after-hours trading session.