SandRidge Energy, in the middle of a proxy battle with its largest shareholder, billionaire Carl Icahn, on Tuesday reported first-quarter production dropped year-over-year, and the company recorded a net loss.
The Oklahoma City, based company reported a first-quarter net loss of $40.89 million, compared to profit of $50.81 million one year ago.
For the three months ended March 31, the independent producer reported its oil production dropped to 926,000 barrels, from 1.13 million barrels(MMBbl)in the year-ago quarter.
SandRidge produced 35,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter, down from 44,200 daily in the year-ago period.
Natural gas liquids production for the quarter fell to 700,000 Bbls, from 887,000 Bbls during the first quarter of 2017. Natural gas production dropped to 9.49 billion cubic feet Bcf , from 11.77 Bcf.
The first-quarter loss translates to $1.18 a share, or $1.90 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company generated a profit of $5.3 million, or 15 cents a share, compared to $20.9 million, or 78 cents a share one year ago.
The quarter included a $32 million payout related to the firing of then-CEO James Bennett, Chief Financial Officer Julian Bott and the layoff of 80 employees, or about 20 percent of the company’s workforce. The expense was composed of $19 million in cash and $13 million in stock to the former executives and employees. About $21.1 million of the payout went to the two former executives, the company said.
NewsOK.com reported that SandRidge executives said they will continue to focus on the NW STACK and Niobrara basins but also plan to drill four new wells in northwest Oklahoma’s Mississippi Lime play. SandRidge’s 1,100 Mississippi Lime wells still represent about 90 percent of SandRidge’s production even though the company has not recently drilled in the area.
The company operated one rig each in Q1, in Oklahoma’s NW STACK and Colorado’s Niobrara Basin.
SD Investor Slide
SandRidge Energy Inc. directors approved a plan to expand the board after activist investor Carl Icahn rejected a compromise effort, the company said Monday, after announcing last month, they would consider all offers for sale of the company.
SandRidge rejected Icahn’s three other nominations, saying they are not independent and would be biased toward Icahn, who also is their employer.
Compiled and Published by GIB KNIGHT
Gib Knight is a private oil and gas investor and consultant, providing clients advanced analytics and building innovative visual business intelligence solutions to visualize the results, across a broad spectrum of regulatory filings and production data in Oklahoma and Texas. He is the founder of OklahomaMinerals.com, an online resource designed for mineral owners in Oklahoma.
