SM Energy Maintains Borrowing Base -- April 16, 2015

From Yahoo!In-Play:

SM Energy announces that Q1 production is expected to be 16.8 MMBOE, or 186.4 MBOE/d; borrowing base maintained at $2.4 bln : Co announces that production for the first quarter of 2015 is expected to be 16.8 MMBOE, or 186.4 MBOE/d. This represents 6% sequential growth in average daily production from the fourth quarter of 2014, and exceeds the Company's guidance.

The Company also announces that the borrowing base under its senior secured revolving credit facility was maintained at $2.4 billion following its lenders' regularly scheduled semi-annual redetermination. SM Energy has elected to leave the aggregate commitment amount from the bank group unchanged at $1.5 billion. The redetermination was made under the terms of the existing facility and there were no other changes to the terms of the credit facility resulting from this borrowing base redetermination.

Another company maintains borrowing base, keeping with the story line. See tag. 

Also from Yahoo!In-Play:

Schlumberger beats by $0.15, reports revs in-line; co further reduces headcount: Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.06 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.15 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.91; revenues fell 8.8% year/year to $10.25 bln vs the $10.35 bln consensus.

• Co's Q1 revenue decreased 19% sequentially driven by the severe decline in North American land activity and associated pricing pressure. International operations were impacted by reduced customer spend in addition to seasonal effects in the Northern Hemisphere and the fall in value of the Russian ruble and the Venezuelan bolivar. Three-quarters of the overall sequential decline was due to lower activity and pricing, while the remainder was the result of currency effects and non-recurring year-end sales.
• "Despite the severity of the sequential revenue decline, we have been able to minimize its impact on our margins through prompt and proactive cost management as well as through acceleration of our transformation program across product lines and GeoMarkets. These actions have successfully improved financial performance compared to previous industry cycles, with an overall sequential decremental operating margin of 33% as North America and the International Areas reported 39% and 25%, respectively.
• "The largest drop in E&P investment is occurring in North America, where 2015 spend is expected to be down by more than 30%. We believe that a recovery in US land drilling activity will be pushed out in time, as the inventory of uncompleted wells builds and as the re-fracturing market expands. We also anticipate that a recovery in activity will fall well short of reaching previous levels, hence extending the period of pricing weakness."
• As a result of the severe fall in activity in North America combined with the impact of lower international activity due to customer budget cuts driven by lower oil prices, Schlumberger took the decision to further reduce its headcount by approx. 11,000 employees.