The performance was despite a net loss of $5.5 million, or $0.03 per share, in the quarter, compared to a net loss of $7.7 million, or $0.05 per share, for the third quarter of 2006, which included a charge for litigation settlement expense of $465,000.
Net cash flows provided by operating activities for the three months ended September 30, 2007 were $5.5 million, compared to a cash loss of $2.3 million for the comparable period in 2006.
Average daily production for Q3 2007 was 22.7 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day (mmcfe/d), an increase of 66% compared to 13.7 mmcfe/d for Q3 2006, and a 50% increase over production levels of 15.1 mmcfe/d for Q2 2007, due to three east Texas wells being brought on at high initial production rates. The average realized price for natural gas in Q3 2007 was $4.65 per mcf, compared to $5.14 per mcf in Q3 2006.
Lease operating expense (LOE) was $1.7 million for both the third quarter of 2007 and 2006. LOE per mcfe decreased 40% to $0.81 per mcfe during the third quarter of 2007 from $1.35 per mcfe for the comparable period in 2006, and decreased 26% from $1.10 per mcfe for the second quarter of 2007.
Russell Porter, chairman, president and CEO of Gastar, said: We are making excellent progress toward further delineating the value of our east Texas and Australian assets. In east Texas the accumulated drilling and production data is helping us to improve drilling results, and we are now beginning to utilize our new 3D seismic data to better identify future drilling locations.
