Hess (HES +0.00%) will likely not have a banner Q4. The company has released an operational update for the first two months of the period, and provided selected guidance for the quarter.
In terms of operations, the company said that it produced an average of 309,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first two months of the quarter; that figure for the entirety of Q3 was 310,000 boepd. In terms of sales, those numbers were 317,000 boepd and 296,000 boepd, respectively.
The realized selling prices for those goods were lower, however, with the firm's worldwide price of crude oil averaging $98.65 per barrel on a hedged basis over those two months, against Q3's $104.95.
Due to the sooner-than-expected closing of a sale of a field in Indonesia, as well as higher maintenance-related downtime, Hess trimmed its production guidance for the full Q4 2013. It now expects the average to be around 310,000 boepd, down from its previous anticipation of 320,000 boepd.
In terms of financials, the company believes its adjusted per-share earnings will be below Q3's $1.18. Analysts had expected EPS of $1.38 for Q4.
