By Ezequiel Minaya, Dow Jones Newswires
, narrowed its loss during the latest quarter but still sharply missed Wall Street expectations for earnings and revenue.
Anadarko shares, down 10 percent over the past year, fell 1.8 percent to $58.40.
Prolonged weakness in energy prices has punished companies across the sector, forcing them to shore up capital and make cuts to investment, head count and dividends.
Anadarko, based in The Woodlands, Texas, reported a loss of $830 million, narrower than the same period last year, in which it lost $2.24 billion. On a per-share basis, the company booked a loss of $1.61 compared with a loss of $4.41. Excluding certain items, the company’s loss per share was 89 cents versus a loss of 72 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue rose 12 percent to $1.89 billion. Analysts projected an adjusted loss of 57 cents a share on $2.19 billion in revenue.
In September, from mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, expanding its footprint in offshore oil.
Under the deal, Anadarko will pick up 91 drilling blocks in the Gulf of Mexico that will allow the company to double its output in the region to about 155,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Before the purchase, Anadarko held 1.6 million acres across 269 drilling blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.
And last week, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Sanchez Energy Corp. was in talks to partner with Blackstone Group LP on a deal for Anadarko’s South Texas oil-and-gas assets. The deal was expected to value the Anadarko assets at between $3 billion and $3.5 billion.
