Canadian Natural Resources to drill fewer natgas wells as pr Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), the country's largest oil and gas producer, said on Thursday it would drill fewer dry natural gas well this year than originally planned due to the decline in prices.
The country's natgas prices slumped to their lowest in more than two years in the July-September quarter as storage levels in Alberta reached full capacity due to weak demand across North America.
Months of subdued prices had already prompted a number of major producers, including Canadian Natural, to shut in or delay completing natgas wells.
In August, Canadian Natural said it would delay completing some new wells due to weak market conditions. It now said it plans to drill a net total of 74 wells in 2024, 17 fewer than its original target for the year.
However, it maintained its forecast of natgas production of 2.12-2.23 billion cubic feet per day (bcfpd) for the year.
That was despite a 4.7% drop in natgas production to 2.05 bcfpd in the latest third quarter, which led to a 2% drop in overall production to 1.36 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
Canadian Natural's natgas realized price plunged 55.5% to C$1.25 per thousand cubic feet in the quarter, while realized prices for synthetic crude oil fell 7% to C$100.93 per barrel.
Global oil prices dropped during the quarter, hurt by sluggish demand from top importer China and oversupply concerns.
The Calgary, Alberta-based company posted adjusted net earnings from operations of 97 Canadian cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
That was higher than analysts' average estimate of 90 Canadian cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.