Losses reported in Empire Petroleum’s 4Q….leadership hopes to make 2024 a turning point

Tulsa’s Empire Petroleum finished the fourth quarter of its 2023 fiscal year with a nearly $5 million net loss or 20 cents per diluted share.

The company announced the fourth quarter financial report on Monday, explaining it posted a net loss of $4.8 million for the quarter and a $12.5 million net loss or 55 cents a share for full year 2023.

The company posted an adjusted net loss for the fourth quarter of 2023 of $5.8 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, versus an adjusted net loss of $1.5 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2023 and an adjusted net loss of $0.894 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $2.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to Adjusted EBITDA income of $0.1 million in the third quarter of 2023 and Adjusted EBITDA income of $1.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2022.

The company blamed the losses on higher expenses associated with an increase in LOE or lease operating expenses including workovers. Depreciation, deletion and amortization or DD&A combined with General and Administrative (G&A) expenses were also cited.

“Bottom line, we are looking at 2024 to be a real turning point for Empire,” stated Mike Morrisett, President and Chief Executive Officer of Empire.

“We are committed to executing on our targeted plan for developing our unique asset base. We see significant potential given our top-notch group of technical professionals led by the oversight of Phil Mulacek.

With producing assets in New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana, Texas, and Louisiana, the company had fourth quarter 2023 net sales volumes of 2,011 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Its full year 2023 production was 2,099 Boe/d and year-end 2023 proved reserves were 9.1 million barrels of oil equivalent. Empire said its decline in reserves year over year was primarily due to a decrease in the SEC mandated prices used to value oil, natural gas and NGL reserves.

Meanwhile, in the company’s Starbuck Field development in the Williston Basin of North Dakota, it has 6 horizontal wells online and more are under development in the Upper Charles formation.

Empire is doing further evaluation of flood performance  in the Permian Basin and new drilling opportunities in Lea County, New Mexico.

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