Stone Energy Presents Operational Update, Ups 2014 Capex - Analyst Blog

Upstream energy firm Stone Energy Corporation (SGY) has released its operational and capital spending update. Let us fist take a closer look at the company's operational update.

Stone Energy revealed that its deep water Cardona development is progressing extremely well. The company expects initial production from the oil field by Dec 1, 2014 – which is just six months since the company drilled the Cardona South well. Stone Energy expects gross production from the two wells in the Cardona oil field to be 12,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

In the Utica Shale of the Appalachia region, Stone Energy has successfully drilled a well. The company will start its testing operations by the fourth quarter.

Stone Energy's Marcellus operation is also doing well. The company expects to drill more than 35 wells from the Marcellus Formation in 2014, which is higher than Stone Energy's previous expectation of 30 wells. Moreover, Stone Energy expects its Amethyst deep water development to start production by the middle of 2016.

Stone Energy – which is ahead of its peers Northern Oil and Gas Inc. (NOG) and Callon Petroleum Company (CPE) in terms of market capitalization − also acquired a 40% working interest in Madison prospect, which is situated in the Mississippi Canyon Block 479.  In the Madison prospect – operated by Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) − Stone Energy will likely start its drilling program by the fourth quarter.

Owing to the increased number of wells in the Marcellus Formation along with the company's pending near-term developments, the board of directors of Stone Energy has increased the capital expenditure budget for this year to $895 million from $825 million.
 

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