Quicksilver Resources of Fort Worth lost $70.8 million in first quarter

In the same quarter a year earlier the Fort Worth-based producer earned $8.2 million, or 5 cents a share.

Quicksilver's revenue was $212.2 million in the most recent quarter, down $10 million from a year earlier. The company realized an average $5.07 per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas, compared with $7.44 a year earlier.

The first-quarter loss included a $49.1 million write-down in the value of Canadian properties and $23.3 million in losses associated with hedging by BreitBurn Energy Partners, a California-based oil and gas partnership in which Quicksilver has a minority interest.

Excluding extraordinary items, the company earned $2.8 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with $33.8 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier.

"Our base operations continued to improve as production volumes once again set new records," Quicksilver CEO Glenn Darden said. He said Quicksilver "has assembled meaningful acreage positions in four developing oil plays and three natural gas plays" where the company "can use its expertise in unconventional resource development to cost-effectively grow our reserve base and production."

First-quarter production averaged the equivalent of 392.3 million cubic feet of natural gas daily, up 23 percent from a year earlier. The bulk was in North Texas' Barnett Shale, which averaged the equivalent of 318.6 million cubic feet a day, up 31 percent.

Quicksilver's Canadian production equaled 70.5 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, with 59.4 million cubic feet a day from the established Horseshoe Canyon coal bed methane field in Alberta and 11.1 million from its initial wells in the promising Horn River Basin in northeast British Columbia.

Production was 81 percent natural gas, 18 percent natural gas liquids and 1 percent oil.

In a conference call Monday with analysts, Quicksilver executives expressed optimism about significantly boosting oil production through substantial lease holdings in the Niobrara Shale in Colorado and the Bone Springs and Wolfcamp formations in West Texas, areas in which it plans to launch drilling projects this year.