By Anna Driver

(Reuters) – Noble Energy said on Thursday it plans to explore for crude oil in areas of Nevada that have seen little drilling, as the U.S. exploration and production company starts to assess its longer-term prospects.

Noble and other oil and gas companies rely on developed reserves to grow output and generate cash flow. Because those reserves hold a finite amount of recoverable oil and gas, companies must always scout out riskier prospects for future growth.

Aug 2 (Reuters) – Apache Corp on Thursday reported a
lower-than-expected quarterly profit as oil and gas output fell
short of Wall Street expectations and weak prices also hurt
results.

The second-quarter results sent Apache’s shares down 4.6
percent in morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

By Anna Driver

(Reuters) – Devon Energy Corp (DVN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported earnings that fell short of estimates and announced that Japan’s Sumitomo Corp (8053.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will take a 30 percent stake in shale acreage Devon controls in the Permian Basin in a $1.4 billion deal.

Investors focused on the earnings miss, pushing shares of Devon down 3.8 percent.

By Matt Daily and Anna Driver

(Reuters) – Refining company Valero Corp (VLO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Tuesday posted a higher quarterly profit that topped expectations and said it would split off its retail business, lifting its shares 6 percent.

The company, which owns retail stations in the United States and Canada, said it is considering different methods for the split, including a spin-off that would give its shareholders ownership in the retail business.

July 30 (Reuters) – Anadarko Petroleum Corp on
Monday reported a net loss in the second quarter as low natural
gas prices forced the company to write down the value of some
assets, but the results topped expectations as oil and gas
output surged 8 percent to a record.

While natural gas prices have rallied recently on power
demand, the average natural gas price at the delivery point
Henry Hub fell nearly 50 percent from a year ago in the second
quarter.

By Anna Driver and Matt Daily

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday as its oil and gas output sagged and weak margins hurt its chemicals business.

Weaker global oil prices have weighed on earnings across the sector and Exxon also felt the sting of decade-low U.S. natural gas prices, especially in the United States where it is the largest producer of the fuel.

By Anna Driver and Matt Daily

(Reuters) – Lower oil prices shrank quarterly profits at ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Hess Corp (HES.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and both companies raised their 2012 spending plans in a bid to increase crude production.

Global oil prices weakened in the second quarter as tensions in the Middle East around Iran eased and the economic outlook soured, but prices have rebounded a bit in July.

July 25 (Reuters) – Lower oil prices hurt quarterly profits
at ConocoPhillips and Hess Corp, but both
companies beat Wall Street forecasts.

Conoco, reporting earnings for the first time since shedding
its refining and chemicals businesses, saw its oil and gas
output slip below its full-year production goal as asset sales,
maintenance and curtailed gas production weighed. But the
company said its new projects were coming on line as planned.

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Southeastern Asset Management Inc, Chesapeake Energy Corp’s (CHK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) largest shareholder, cast doubt on the leadership issues that have dogged the natural gas company and said its new board is fully committed to shareholders.

Chesapeake’s chief executive, Aubrey McClendon, has been under fire following Reuters reports that he personally borrowed more than $1 billion from a big lender to the company and may have colluded with a competitor to keep land prices low, among other things.

By Anna Driver and John Shiffman and Brian Grow

(Reuters) – Chesapeake Energy Corp often boasts that it’s one of America’s best workplaces, offering its 13,500 employees such benefits as Botox injections, NBA tickets and a fitness center with an Olympic-sized pool and a rock-climbing wall.

What the company hasn’t disclosed is perhaps the most extraordinary perk of all: A group of about 1,600 employees is guaranteed a unique type of payment if the company changes hands, internal Chesapeake documents reviewed by Reuters show.