Provident Energy Trust (PVX, PVE_U.TO) reported late Tuesday an 85% decline in net profit for the third quarter, hurt by sharp fall in oil and natural gas production volumes as well as commodity prices. Funds flow from continuing operations declined 61%, and revenues for the quarter fell 58%. The Calgary, Canada-based open-ended energy income trust also revised its fiscal 2009 forecast for Provident Midstream adjusted EBITDA.
Net income for the third quarter plunged to C$51.66 million from C$351.11 million in the prior year. Earnings per unit fell 84% to C$0.20 from last year's C$1.29.
In the quarter, funds flow from continuing operations declined 61% to C$54.87 million from C$139.98 million last year, and funds flow from operations per unit dropped 59% to C$0.21 from C$0.51 a year earlier, attributable to lower commodity prices, declining oil and natural gas production and reduced demand for natural gas liquids, or NGL.
Funds flow from Provident Upstream operations was C$28.43 million, down 74% from last year's C$107.44 million, reflecting substantially lower oil and natural gas prices and lower production volumes, partially offset by a $3 million realized gain from the commodity price risk management program.
The company's funds flow from Provident Midstream operations dropped 19% to C$26.44 million from C$32.54 million a year earlier.
Revenue from continuing operations for the quarter was C$465.43 million, down 58% from C$1.10 billion a year earlier.
In the quarter, Provident Upstream oil and natural gas production was 21,366 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or boed, down 24% from last year's 28,271 boed, mainly due to natural declines and a third-party natural gas pipeline outage in Northwest Alberta that constrained about 1,200 boed of natural gas production during the quarter. Production of crude oil fell 28% in the quarter, natural gas liquids production dropped 2%, and the production of natural gas was down 23%.
Average realized price from continuing operations was C$38.01 per barrel of oil equivalent, 50% lower than prior year's C$76.42 per boe. Crude oil blend price fell 40% in the quarter, natural gas liquids price declined 57% and natural gas price in the quarter dropped 66% from last year.
In the Provident Midstream, NGL sales volumes fell 12% to 98,229 barrels per day, or bpd, from 111,313 bpd last year, reflecting lower overall demand for propane-plus products in both the Empress East and Redwater West business lines. Earnings before interest, taxes, depletion, depreciation, accretion and other non-cash items, or adjusted EBITDA, dropped 27% to C$27 million from C$37 million in 2008, mainly on lower per barrel margins, lower NGL sales volumes and a $30 million realized loss from the commodity price risk management program.
Commenting on the results, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tom Buchanan stated, "Provident's third quarter results were impacted by weakness in commodity prices. In the Midstream business, margins were also impacted by a decline in natural gas flows at Empress, resulting in lower throughput and higher extraction costs. In the Upstream business, a third-party natural gas pipeline outage in Northwest Alberta impacted production volumes. Despite these challenges, Provident made excellent progress towards our objective of crystallizing value and repositioning the Upstream business for growth with the sale of certain non-strategic oil and gas assets, primarily in Saskatchewan."
The company noted that the sale of its Lloydminster assets to Emerge Oil & Gas Inc. for total consideration of $87 million, including $70 million cash and $17 million in equity, is expected to close by November 30, 2009. Daily production from these assets during the third quarter was 2,200 boed.
For the nine months of fiscal 2009, Provident Energy recorded a net loss of C$68.68 million or C$0.26 per unit, compared to prior year's net income of C$200.64 million or C$0.79 per unit. Funds flow from continuing operations fell 58% to C$187.67 million or C$0.72 per unit from C$435.84 million or C$1.71 per unit a year ago. Nine-month revenue declined 44% to C$1.24 billion from C$2.22 billion in 2008.
Looking ahead, Provident Energy said its fiscal 2009 adjusted EBITDA guidance for Provident Midstream is currently projected in a range of C$175 to C$190 million, compared to previous forecast of C$190 to C$215 million. The revision is subject to market conditions.
Further, the company expects production from Provident Upstream to average between 21,000 and 22,000 boed for 2009. According to the company, the lower production volumes reflect the ongoing impact of the third-party natural gas pipeline disruption and the non-strategic asset dispositions in the third and fourth quarters.
Provident Energy also announced November cash distribution of C$0.06 per unit is payable on December 15, 2009 and will be paid to unit holders of record as of November 24, 2009.
For unitholders receiving their cash distribution in U.S. funds, the November 2009 cash distribution will be approximately US$0.06 per unit.
PVX closed Tuesday's regular trading session at US$6.93, up US$0.03 or 0.43%, on a volume of 1.74 million shares.
PVE_U.TO settled at C$7.26 on Tuesday.
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