Cenovus profit falls on weak oil and gas prices

(Reuters) - Canadian independent oil producer Cenovus Energy Inc's second-quarter profit fell 40 percent on weaker prices for oil and natural gas.

Net earnings fell to C$396 million, or 52 Canadian cents per share, from C$655 million, or 86 Canadian cents per share.

Cenovus has a rapidly expanding Canadian oil sands operation, co-owned with ConocoPhillips, and a 50 percent share in two U.S. refineries operated by Phillips 66.

Operating earnings, which exclude most one-time and unusual items, fell to C$283 million, or 37 Canadian cents, from C$395 million, or 52 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

Cenovus's cash flow, a key indicator of its ability to pay for new projects, fell about 2 percent to C$925 million, or C$1.22 per share, from C$939 million, or C$1.24 per share, a year earlier.

Total oil production rose 28 percent to 155,566 barrels per day, whereas natural gas production fell 9 percent to 596 million cubic feet per day.

Production from the company's Christina Lake and Foster Creek oil sands projects rose 38 percent to 80,317 barrels per day.

Weaker prices for both oil and natural gas were somewhat offset by the increase in oil production, the company said in a statement.

In the April-June quarter, U.S. crude oil prices fell 9 percent from the year-ago period to average $93 per barrel.

In the same period, natural gas prices fell 46 percent from a year earlier to average $2.4 per million British thermal units.

Cenovus shares closed at C$32.10 on Tuesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Shounak Dasgupta in Bangalore; Editing by Sreejiraj Eluvangal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cenovus-profit-falls-weak-oil-gas-prices-105642377--finance.html

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