Oil and gas firm Hess HES.N beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, buoyed by higher production in its Bakken shale and Guyana operations.

The company, which has agreed to be bought by Chevron CVX.N, said quarterly net production from Bakken climbed 23% to 194,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from a year earlier.

Production jumped about 10% to 128,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) at Guyana.

Payara, part of the Guyana operations, reached its initial production capacity of about 220,000 gross bopd in January after that starting production in November. A consortium consisting of Exxon Mobil XOM.N, Hess and CNOOC Ltd 0883.HK operates the offshore production in Guyana.

Fourth-quarter oil and gas production rose 11% to 418,000 boepd, the company said.

Hess reported an adjusted profit of $1.63 per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with analysts’ estimate of $1.44 per share, according to LSEG data.

The $53 billion all-stock deal with Chevron is expected to close in first half of 2024.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)