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Supported by a recovery in benchmark prices, EOG's third quarter revenues declined by 48% (y-o-y) as compared to a 76% (y-o-y) drop observed in the second quarter.
The company is focusing on reducing unit operating costs and capital expenses to sustain the impact of weak demand and lower price realization.
While EOG Resources’ stock has lost nearly half of its value since January, key factors such as premium well operating strategy and declining unit production costs will support a quick recovery as demand rebounds.
Below are some key value drivers for EOG Resources that present opportunities for a significant upside or downside to the current Trefis price estimate for the company:
For additional details, select a driver above or select a division from the interactive Trefis split for EOG Resources at the top of the page.
EOG Resources is an independent oil and gas company that explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil and natural gas primarily in major producing basins in the U.S., Trinidad, Canada, and the U.K. Around 97% of the company's total net proved reserves are located in the U.S., while 3% of remaining net proved reserves are located in Trinidad. The remaining proved reserves of the company are spread across other International markets, including the U.K., Canada, Argentina, and China.
The difference between EOG Resources' reported net revenue and the figures used in our model is primarily because we use core sales revenue (which comes from the sale of hydrocarbons) figures that exclude the revenue it generates from distribution, processing, and marketing of hydrocarbon and other sources of income.
Crude Oil exploration and production is by far the most valuable division for EOG Resources for the following reasons:
Proven reserves is an extremely critical metric for an oil and gas exploration and production company. It represents the total quantity of technically and economically recoverable oil and gas reserves owned by the company at a given point in time. It directly impacts the company's production growth outlook.
EOG Resources' proved hydrocarbon reserves stood at 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2018. Just to give some perspective on these numbers, EOG Resources currently holds enough reserves to produce oil and gas for the next 10.5 years at 2017 production rates.
The Eagle Ford shale formation in South Texas runs from the US-Mexico border north of Laredo in a narrow band extending northeast for several hundred miles to just north of Houston. The Eagle Ford shale is now the largest tight oil play in the U.S. by EIA estimates. It contributes about 50% to EOG Resources' total crude oil production.
EOG Resources is the leading oil producer and acreage holder in the Eagle Ford shale. The company holds 590,000 net acres in the play, a majority of which 582,000 acres fall in the crude oil window of the formation. In 2017, EOG Resources produced crude oil from the Eagle Ford shale at an average rate of 157,000 barrels per day, compared to just over 30,000 barrels per day that it produced in 2011.
EOG Resources' volume mix has been improving recently with the proportion of liquids (crude oil and natural gas liquids) in its total sales mix increasing. Liquids are priced higher than natural gas primarily due to higher energy density and ease of transport, among other factors. In 2017, EOG Resources sold liquids at an average price of over $55.01 per barrel, while the company realized a price of just $13.74 per BOE of natural gas on average. Therefore, despite lower finding, development, and lifting costs per BOE of natural gas, the production of liquids is still a far more lucrative source of revenue for upstream oil and gas companies in the U.S.
The proportion of liquids in EOG Resources’ total production volume-mix has improved significantly from just around 22% in 2009 to 65% in 2016. We expect the company’s sales volume-mix to improve further as it plans to increase its focus on liquids production in the coming years. The trend of increasing liquids proportion in the company's production mix is expected to continue in the long run, boosting its unit profitability.
Over the last few years, EOG Resources’ average well productivity has increased considerably on optimized spacing and efficiency improvements in fracking techniques. Higher well productivity leads to lower per-unit production costs, which results in thicker operating margins for upstream oil and gas companies. EOG Resources’ cumulative crude oil production (in the first 90 days) from a normalized 6,600-foot lateral well in the Eagle Ford play has increased from just over 30,000 barrels in 2011 to roughly 84000 in 2018.
Going forward, we expect EOG Resources' well productivity to improve further on increasing estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) per well due to technological advancements in fracking techniques.
Continuous improvements in drilling efficiency are leading to lower cash costs per well for EOG Resources. The company’s average completed well cost (CWC) for a normalized 5,300-foot lateral well in the Eagle Ford shale has declined from $7.2 million in 2011 to $4.5 million in 2018.
It is estimated that a large part of the world's oil reserves has already been discovered. Recent statistics have indicated that global consumption has been outpacing reserve additions. Peak oil is a commonly used term to describe the point at which world oil output will reach a maximum and decline afterward.
However, many institutions, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), believe that peak oil will not occur for another 25 years at the very least. Many governments across the world are promoting alternative energy measures to ensure that the supply and demand for energy will be met at all times to come.