• Delivered third-quarter production of 448,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day and adjusted production of 354,000 BOE per day, which excludes Canadian volumes, Egypt noncontrolling interest and tax barrels;
• Returned United States’ production to a growth trajectory and grew net production in the North Sea and gross production in Egypt;
• Achieved strong oil production in the Midland and Delaware basins and expect continued strong performance in the fourth quarter;
• Completed the strategic exit from Canada, which streamlines the portfolio and increases leverage to the Permian; and
• On track to achieve fourth-quarter production targets and end the year with less debt and considerably more cash than the start of 2017.

HOUSTON, Nov. 2, 2017 – Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA) (Nasdaq: APA) today announced its financial and operational results for the third quarter of 2017.

Apache reported earnings of $63 million or $0.16 per diluted common share for the third quarter of 2017. These results include a number of items outside of core earnings that are typically excluded by the investment community in their published earnings estimates. When adjusted for these and certain additional items that impact the comparability of results, Apache’s third-quarter earnings were $14 million or $0.04 per share. Adjusted earnings include the effect of dry-hole costs of $0.06 per share, after tax. Cash flow from operations in the quarter was $554 million. Before working capital changes, Apache generated $655 million in cash flow. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, depletion, amortization and exploration expenses (adjusted EBITDAX) was $821 million.

John J. Christmann IV, Apache's chief executive officer and president, said, “During the third quarter, Apache delivered strong operational results and made great progress in our ongoing portfolio transition. In the United States, we returned our production to a growth trajectory and advanced our development program at Alpine High bringing new wells online, ramping up production, and further progressing our build out of infrastructure in the area. 

“Across the Permian Basin, we are benefiting from the testing and optimization initiatives we put in place during 2016 and are delivering excellent results from our multiwell pad drilling programs in the Midland and Delaware basins. We anticipate continued capital efficiency gains in both of these focus areas. 

“With our recent Canadian pestment, our portfolio is now increasingly weighted to our Permian assets including Alpine High, which offers a unique combination of high returns and tremendous scale. This portfolio rotation is a key step in transforming Apache’s long-term return on capital employed,” Christmann said. 

Financial position and liquidity

Oil and gas capital investment was $843 million during the quarter, with more than two-thirds focused on the Permian Basin. Apache’s net debt position at quarter end was $6.6 billion, a decrease of $175 million from the previous quarter. 

Third-quarter operational summary 

During the third quarter, Apache averaged 36 operated rigs worldwide, with 17 in the Permian, four in other North America areas, 12 in Egypt, and three in the North Sea. Highlights from Apache’s three principal areas include:

• North America – North American production was 231,000 BOE per day. Apache averaged 21 rigs and drilled and completed 41 gross-operated wells. In North America, third-quarter 2017 adjusted production, which excludes Canada, averaged 207,000 BOE per day, up 7 percent from the second quarter.
  • Permian Basin – With the success of the Midland Basin drilling program and the continued production ramp at Alpine High, third-quarter production in the Permian Basin averaged 161,000 BOE per day, an 11 percent increase from the second quarter. Oil growth increased 8 percent from the second quarter to 78,000 barrels of oil per day.
    • Delaware Basin – At Alpine High, average production was 13,300 BOE per day. In addition to several high-rate wells in the wet gas and dry gas portions of the play, Apache achieved positive results from three parasequence oil tests in the Wolfcamp and the Third Bone Springs formations providing additional confirmation of the oil play at Alpine High.
       
    • Midland Basin – Apache is focused on multiwell pad drilling development in its core areas of the Midland Basin. The company completed two pads in the Wildfire field in Midland County containing 13 wells with mile-and-a-half laterals. The average 30-day peak initial-production rate of these wells exceeded 1,000 BOE per day, consisting of 80 to 85 percent oil.
      
      At the Powell field in Upton County, Apache brought the CC 4045 pad online, which contains six wells with two-mile laterals. These wells have been online for about four weeks and are trending toward an average 30-day peak initial-production rate of 1,300 BOE per day, consisting of 80 percent oil.
       
• North Sea – Apache averaged three rigs during the quarter. Production increased 9 percent from the second quarter to 60,000 BOE per day. Net production from the Callater Field is currently averaging approximately 14,000 BOE per day from two wells. A third well, the CB-1, was recently drilled into a new fault block and found more than 260-feet of net pay and will be placed on production later this month.
   
• Egypt – Apache averaged 12 rigs during the quarter. Gross production in Egypt increased slightly from the second quarter to 339,000 BOE per day. Adjusted production in Egypt, which excludes minority interest and the impact of tax barrels, decreased slightly from the second-quarter 2017 to 87,000 BOE per day. The decrease in adjusted production reflects the terms of Apache’s production sharing contracts in Egypt, which generally provide for fewer cost-recovery barrels to the contactor as the price of Brent-indexed crude oil increases. During the quarter, terms were finalized on two new concessions in the Western Desert covering 1.6 million acres.

2017 outlook and plan update 

Apache provided updated fourth-quarter production guidance on its webcast update in October, which remains unchanged. Capital guidance for 2017 of $3.1 billion remains on track for the full year. Further details on other financial and operational guidance items can be found in the Third-Quarter 2017 Financial and Operational Supplement.

“We continue to benefit from our cost structure focus, with both LOE per BOE and G&A costs remaining low as a result of the significant rationalization efforts over the last two years. Our capital investment is in line with our target for 2017, and we are actively working our 2018 and 2019 plans. We are closely monitoring commodity prices as we prioritize next year’s activity and identify areas where the capital program could be pared back if necessary. We look forwarding to providing details of our 2018 plan along with a view into 2019 on our fourth-quarter results call in February,” Christmann concluded. 

Conference call

Apache will host a conference call to discuss its third-quarter 2017 results at 1 p.m. Central time, Thursday, Nov. 2. The conference call will be webcast from Apache's website at www.apachecorp.com and investor.apachecorp.com, and the webcast replay will be archived there as well. A replay of the conference call will be available for seven days following the call. The number for the replay is 855-859-2056 or 404-537-3406 for international calls. The conference access code is 48384429. Sign up for email alerts to be reminded of the webcast at investor.apachecorp.com/alerts.cfm.

Additional Information

Additional information follows, including reconciliations of adjusted earnings, adjusted EBITDAX and net debt (non-GAAP financial measures) to GAAP measures and information regarding adjusted production. Apache’s quarterly supplement is available at www.apachecorp.com/financialdata.

About Apache

Apache Corporation is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Egypt and the United Kingdom. Apache posts announcements, operational updates, investor information and copies of all press releases on its website, www.apachecorp.com, and on its Media and Investor Center mobile application, which is available for free download from the Apple App Store and the Google’s Play store.

 Non-GAAP financial measures

Apache’s financial information includes information prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as well as non-GAAP information. It is management’s intent to provide non-GAAP financial information to enhance understanding of our consolidated financial information as prepared in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted earnings, adjusted EBITDAX and net debt are non-GAAP measures. This non-GAAP information should be considered by the reader in addition to, but not instead of, the financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Each non-GAAP financial measure is presented along with the corresponding GAAP measure so as not to imply that more emphasis should be placed on the non-GAAP measure.

Forward-looking statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “guidance,” “outlook,” and similar references to future periods. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future plans, expectations and objectives for Apache’s operations, including statements about our capital plans, drilling plans, production expectations, asset sales, and monetizations. While forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by us that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results and developments will meet our expectations and predictions depend on a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause our actual results, performance, and financial condition to differ materially from our expectations. See "Risk Factors" in our 2016 Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of risk factors that affect our business. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this news release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future development or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Cautionary note to investors

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved, probable, and possible reserves that meet the SEC's definitions for such terms. Apache may use certain terms in this earnings release, such as "resources," "potential resources," "resource potential," "estimated net reserves," "recoverable reserves," and other similar terms that the SEC guidelines strictly prohibit Apache from including in filings with the SEC. Such terms do not take into account the certainty of resource recovery, which is contingent on exploration success, technical improvements in drilling access, commerciality and other factors, and are therefore not indicative of expected future resource recovery and should not be relied upon. Investors are urged to consider carefully the disclosure in Apache's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2016, available from Apache at www.apachecorp.com or by writing Apache at: 2000 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 100, Houston, TX 77056 (Attn: Corporate Secretary). You can also obtain this report from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 or from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Contacts

Investor: (281) 302-2286 Gary Clark

Media: (713) 296-7276 Castlen Kennedy

Website: www.apachecorp.com

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