(Reuters) -U.S. oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Thursday, as demand concerns led to a sharp fall in natural gas prices.
A milder-than-expected winter hurt demand for the heating fuel in the quarter and pulled down natural gas prices to a three-and-a-half-year low in February.
U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron have also reported weaker first-quarter results due to lower natural gas prices.
ConocoPhillips’ total average realized price fell 7% to $56.60 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) in the first quarter from $60.86 per boe a year earlier.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil production is on the rise with advancements in fracking technology offsetting declining well productivity.
Production at ConocoPhillips rose to 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 1.79 million boepd in the year-ago quarter.
Its second-quarter production is expected to rise even more to 1.91 to 1.95 million boepd.
The Houston, Texas-based company’s adjusted earnings fell to $2.03 per share in the quarter ended March 31 from $2.38 a year earlier and missed analysts’ average estimate of $2.04 per share, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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