Whiting Petroleum Q2 loss more than doubles

Whiting Petroleum
Whiting Petroleum, North Dakota’s largest oil producer, posted a worse-than-expected second quarter loss on Wednesday.  Whiting Petroleum image.

Whiting Petroleum Q2 loss of $301M

July 27 (Reuters) – Whiting Petroleum Corp, North Dakota’s largest oil producer, posted a worse-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday as production fell and crude prices dropped.

The weak results reflect the broad uncertainty affecting the oil industry as depressed prices erode profitability.

Whiting posted a second-quarter net loss of $301 million, or $1.33 per share, compared with a net loss of $149.3 million, or 73 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

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Excluding $1.4 million in fees to cancel drilling rig contracts early, as well as other one-time items, the company lost 70 cents per share.

By that measure, analysts expected a loss of 46 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Production fell 22 percent to 12.2 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Despite the drop and weak oil prices, Whiting said it will add a drilling rig in North Dakota in October.

Whiting has been converting much of its debt into common shares in recent months, completing $810 million worth of debt-to-equity conversions so far this year.

In May, for instance, the Denver-based company converted $476.3 million of outstanding convertible notes into common stock.

Shares of Whiting fell 1.4 percent to $7.25 in after-hours trading. The stock fell 5.9 percent in regular Tuesday trading.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Steve Orlofsky)