$2B write-down hits Apache

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billion first-quarter net loss for The nearlg $2 billion after-tax write-down stemmedx from lower natural gas prices duringy thefirst quarter, the Houston exploration and production company said Thursday. The $1.8 billionh net loss, or $5.25 per share, for the three montha ended March 31, 2009, compared with net incomee of $1 billion, or $3.03 per for the same period a year earlier. Revenue was down 49 percentt to $1.6 billion from $3.2 billion in the 2008 firstg quarter. Excluding the write-down, Apache’s first-quarter adjusted earnings would havebeen $218 million, or 65 cent per share, compared with adjusted earningws of $1 billion or $2.99 per shar in the prior-year period.
Analysts polled by Thomsonh Reuters expectedApache (NYSE: APA) to have net earningw per share of 35 cents. In a separater matter, the company announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquirew nine Permian Basin oil and gas fields with current productiobof 3,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day from Houston-bases (NYSE: MRO) for $187.4 million.