OREANDA-NEWS.  August 07, 2012. Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) reported second quarter 2012 net income of USD 393 million, or USD 0.56 per diluted share, compared to net income in the first quarter of 2012 of USD 417 million, or USD 0.59 per diluted share. For the second quarter of 2012, adjusted net income was USD 416 million, or USD 0.59 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of USD 478 million, or USD 0.67 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2012, reported the press-centre of Marathon Oil.

"Throughout the second quarter, Marathon Oil continued to execute well and reported another good quarter operationally," said Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon Oil's chairman, president and CEO. "Our Exploration and Production (E&P) segment delivered production available for sale at the upper end of our guidance. Second quarter volumes in our Texas Eagle Ford play grew nearly 50 percent from the first quarter, leading to a 20 percent production increase from our U.S. unconventional resource plays compared to the first quarter, including higher production levels in the Company's North Dakota Bakken and Oklahoma Anadarko Woodford plays. We also completed major turnarounds in Equatorial Guinea (EG) and Norway ahead of schedule and under budget.

"The positive financial impact of our solid operational performance was more than offset by lower commodity prices compared to the first quarter, with the largest impact in inland U.S. crude and natural gas liquids (NGL) markets. This lower price environment, coupled with costs that have not declined at a comparable rate, dictate a more disciplined level of domestic spending and activity.

"As a result, we are reducing for the remainder of 2012, and perhaps into 2013, the rig count in the North Dakota Bakken and Oklahoma Anadarko Woodford plays. We will also be able to fully execute our Texas Eagle Ford growth plans with fewer rigs as a result of increasing drilling efficiencies. Even with these reductions, we confirm our estimated 5 percent Upstream production growth in 2012 over 2011, excluding Libya, and our 5 to 7 percent growth on a compound annual basis from 2010 through 2016. We also project that 2013 Upstream production will be 6 to 8 percent higher than 2012, excluding Libya and Alaska.

"In addition to our strong base and defined-growth assets, we continue to strengthen our exploration portfolio. Since April, we've had several significant developments, re-entering Gabon, agreeing to pursue exploration activities in Kenya and Ethiopia and balancing our Kurdistan program by farming down our two operated blocks. We also signed a new production sharing contract for the exploration of a block adjacent to the Alba field offshore Equatorial Guinea. These new opportunities are focused on creating value in our existing assets and potential new core areas. It's important to note that no future exploration success is factored into our growth projections," Cazalot said.