OK, stop me if you've heard this before -- an energy company reports good results, but all of the juice is from pricing. And the company says it's working hard to do better on the volume front. Yeah, right, I thought so. We've heard that from quite a few energy companies -- and now Anadarko (NYSE:APC) is whistling the same tune.

Revenue rose 28% this quarter, as this large independent saw revenue from natural gas rise 27% and oil revenue rise 23%. Following the pattern, margins improved and reported net income growth (39% in this case) was ahead of the top-line figure.

Looking at some of the details, we see that total average daily volume (converted to oil equivalency) dropped about 8%. Natural gas production was down 6% this quarter as pricing rose 35%. Oil was the reverse -- a worse drop in production (down 11%), but a better pricing environment (up 38%).

Although the company is still looking to increase its daily production by about 15% from the beginning of the year to the end, that got a little more challenging with this quarter. Production will be hurt first by lower volumes from Venezuela, where the company was essentially force-marched into a renegotiated deal. Second, the company's deepwater K2 platform required a workover, and that has delayed its production contributions.

Anadarko sets up a very typical conundrum that investors in stocks like Apache (NYSE:APA), Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), Chesapeake (NYSE:CHK) and CanadianNatural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) are also dealing with. Namely, a good inventory of drilling projects and proven experience in executing them, tempered by a variety of fears pertaining to government policies, weather, natural gas prices, and so on.

At least in the case of Anadarko, Apache, Occidental, and Canadian Natural, there's a little less sensitivity to natural gas, though the market usually manages to find other fears to replace that. And though Anadarko isn't my favorite operator, it is still something of a relative value play in the sector.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).