Aug 4 (Reuters) - Pioneer Natural Resources Co on Tuesday posted a quarterly loss that was smaller than estimates, as the U.S shale producer reined in costs to cushion a blow from the coronavirus-induced plunge in oil prices.
The company said it cut costs and expenses by more than a third as prices for its oil and gas tumbled 55.2% to $17.61 per barrel of oil equivalent.
The Permian basin producer's average sales volume rose to 374,563 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the second quarter, from 334,167 boepd a year earlier.
Pioneer also raised its full-year production forecast to between 356,000 boepd and 371,000 boepd after cutting it in May, joining an expanding list of U.S. producers restoring some of their shut-in drilling.
Still, the company expects about 6,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) production to remain curtailed in the current commodity price environment. Pioneer had reduced about 7,000 bopd of net production during the second quarter.
Rival Callon Petroleum Co also said minimal production volume shut-ins by the company during the second quarter have been returned to production.
Pioneer posted an adjusted quarterly loss of 32 cents per share, smaller than analysts' estimate of 35 cents, according to Refinitiv IBES, while Callon reported a surprise profit.
Meanwhile, Devon Energy Corp also posted a smaller-than-expected loss, and the shale producer cut its 2020 exploration and production spending program by $25 million at mid-point to between $950 million and $1 billion.
The company raised its oil production forecast to between 148,000 bpd and 152,000 bpd. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sriraj Kalluvila)
