Hess Announces Portfolio-Wide Outperformance in Third Quarter

Hess shares surged ahead in early trading after the firm reported third quarter operational results that comfortably exceeded management estimates. Firmwide volumes, excluding Libya (where political unrest makes output too unpredictable to guide on), were 351 mboe/d. And to this, Hess' flagship assets in Guyana and the North Dakota Bakken Shale contributed 98 mboe/d and 166 mboe/d respectively. All three results exceeded the high end of guidance ranges, and the outperformance would have been even stronger if not for the impact of a 1 mmb underlift in Guyana (these volumes were extracted in the third quarter but not picked up for transport, and thus excluded from production). On the back of this strong performance the firm raised its outlook for full year output by 5 mboe/d while keeping the capital budget flat.