Stone Energy 2015: $1.1 Billion Loss, Quit Drilling in Marcellus

Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (E&P) headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana drills mainly in the Gulf of Mexico but also has a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. Last year they quit drilling in the northeast and actually shut-in part of their production due to low prices (see Stone Energy 3Q15: Shut Down 110 Mmcfe/d of Marcellus Production). However, Stone does have around 75,000 acres of leases--so they're an important player in our neck of the woods. So we keep tabs on them. In December Stone said they would spend 3-5% of their $200 million budget in 2016 in the Marcellus/Utica--about enough to drill one well. Which led to our conclusion they're in maintenance-only mode for this year. And no wonder why. Yesterday Stone released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 operating and financial results, and it's not a pretty picture. In 2014 Stone lost $190 million for the year. In 2015, they lost a huge $1.1 billion for the year. You can't rack up losses like that for long. Here's yesterday's update from Stone Energy...

---

To view this content, log into your member account. (Not a member? Join Today!)