May 6, 2010. Swift Energy’s production operations are located along the Louisiana-Texas Gulf Coast, with around 67% of our total 2009 production coming from Louisiana. Because most of our production in Louisiana is primarily crude oil, Swift is one of the largest crude oil producers in the state of Louisiana.

We have grown our annual production over the five-year period ended December 31, 2009, from 7.0 MMBoe to 9.1 MMBoe. During this same period we have replaced 109% of our production on average. For 2010, we anticipate an increase in production volumes of 3% to 7% over 2009 levels. (See update in 2010 production projection in November 4, 2010, press release below.)

Our 2009 production of 9.1 MMBoe is 10% less than our production of 10.1 MMBoe in 2008. Factors contributing to this decrease were the collapse of product prices in 2008 that precluded any new drilling activity until the last half of 2009, the continued shut-in of producing wells in our Bay de Chene Field until August 2009 due to 2008 hurricane damage, and natural production declines.

Our 2009 production volumes consisted of 48% crude oil, 39% natural gas, and 13% natural gas liquids (NGL). The contributions to the 2009 production from the core areas of operation were 52.8% from Southeast Louisiana, 30.1% from South Texas, 9.5% from Central Louisiana/East Texas, and 7.2% from South Louisiana.

The 2009 production by all the fields and core areas for the year is given in the table below.

Year-End 2009 Producing Wells. At year-end 2009 we had 1,294 gross producing wells (1,165.5 net wells) distributed as shown in the following table. Of these, 469 were classified as oil wells and 825 as gas wells.

2009 Oil and Gas Sales. We typically sell our oil and natural gas production at market prices near the wellhead or at a central point after gathering and/or processing. We usually sell our natural gas in the spot market on a monthly basis, while we sell our oil at prevailing market prices. We do not refine any oil we produce.

Our total net oil and gas sales in 2009 were $371.7 million, a decrease of 53% (or $422.1 million) from $793.9 million in 2008 due to both decreased production and lower unit prices.

Our total net sales volume in 2009 was 8,731 MBoe, a decrease of 10.7% (or 1,046 MBoe) from 9,777 MBoe in 2008. In 2009 we sold 1,074 MBbl less oil and 28 MBbl less NGL than in 2008, offset by an increase of 339 MMcf natural gas. Our net sales volume components in 2009 were 4,346 MBbl of oil, 1,183 MBbl of NGL, and 19.2 Bcf of natural gas.

The following table shows our 2009 oil and gas sales by core area, along with the production volumes by area. [Note: The production volumes include natural gas that was consumed in operations (that is, not sold).]

The average oil and natural gas prices we received in 2009 were lower than the average prices we received in 2008, with an overall 48% decline in the average price per Boe. The average 2009 prices were $60.07 per barrel of oil (Bbl) compared to $101.38 per Bbl in 2008; $31.36 per barrel of NGL compared to $57.15 per Bbl in 2008; and $3.48 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas (produced) compared to $8.54 per Mcf in 2008. These prices were lower than those received in 2008 by 41% (oil), 45% (NGL), and 59% (natural gas), respectively.

The average quarterly highs vs. lows we received in 2009 were $75.09 vs. $41.15 for oil, $40.45 vs. $22.52 for NGL, and $4.19 vs. $2.84 for natural gas.

During 2009, we realized net losses of $1.4 million related to our derivative activities. Had these losses been recognized in the oil and gas sales account, our average sales price would have been $59.77 per barrel for oil and $3.47 per Mcf for natural gas.

2010 First Quarter Production and Sales

With the natural gas market experiencing continued weakness, we intend to take advantage of the stronger liquids pricing environment by focusing our activity on oil and liquids production as we continue evaluating and delineating our entire acreage position. This focus will add higher value production but slightly lower full-year production volumes than previously guided. On the other hand, our 2010 drilling results to date support an increase in our average daily production exit rate guidance from 27,500 Boe per day to 28,000 Boe per day.

Our 2010 first quarter production was 2.04 MMBoe, a decrease of 14% from our 2009 first quarter production and a decrease of 8% from our 2009 fourth quarter production. The decrease resulted from limited new drilling activity, freezing problems due to unusually cold temperatures in the Southeast Louisiana core area, unplanned equipment repairs in the Lake Washington Field, and natural declines. Our production volumes were 46.2% oil, 14.8% NLG, and 39.0% natural gas.

The contributions to the first quarter 2010 production from the core areas of operation were 936 net MBoe from Southeast Louisiana, 790 net MBoe from South Texas, 161 net MBoe from Central Louisiana/East Texas, 153 net MBoe from South Louisiana, and 5 net MBoe from non-core properties.

We realized an aggregate average price of $53.81 per Boe during first quarter 2010, an increase of 67% from the $32.29 per Boe received in first quarter 2009 and an increase of 4% from the $51.75 per Boe received in fourth quarter 2009. Average crude oil prices increased 90% to $78.10 per barrel from $41.15 per barrel in first quarter 2009; average natural gas prices increased 13% to $4.74 per Mcf from $4.19 per Mcf in first quarter 2009; and NGL increased 99% to $44.71 per barrel from $22.52 per barrel in first quarter 2009.

This web page may contain "forward-looking statements" as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any opinions, forecasts, projections, or other statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Although Swift Energy Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Certain risks and uncertainties inherent in the company's business are set forth in the filings of the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (See Terms of Use.)

Updates (in reverse chronological order)

May 3, 2012: PRESS RELEASE. Swift Energy's first-quarter 2012 production was 2.80 MMBoe, a 6% increase over first-quarter 2011 production of 2.65 MMBoe and a 4% sequential increase over fourth-quarter 2011 production of 2.70 MMBoe. A comparison of the component production volumes with those in first-quarter 2011 and fourth-quarter 2011 is as follows:

“Swift Energy continued to increase crude oil and liquids focused activity levels across all three of our operating areas with minimal operational delays or outages during the first quarter,” commented Terry Swift, CEO of Swift Energy. “Our operational momentum delivered production volumes at the high end of our targeted production range in the first quarter, and we remain on track to reach our full-year targeted production growth range of 14%–20%. We also expect crude oil and natural gas liquids production to grow throughout the year and anticipate these products will account for approximately 55% of our daily production mix by the end of 2012.

2012 FIRST QUARTER FORM 10-Q. Oil production accounted for 32% of our total first-quarter 2012 production and 73% of our total oil and gas revenues, and combined production of both oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) accounted for 45% of our first-quarter 2012 production and 85% of our oil and gas sales. This emphasis on liquids has allowed us to benefit from better margins for oil production than natural gas production during first-quarter 2012.

The following table compares the sources of our oil and gas production and sales in first-quarter 2012 with those in first-quarter 2011.

Our inventory of drilling locations allows us to be flexible in scheduling upcoming wells in South Texas to focus on natural gas liquids. Having fulfilled our near-term obligations on most of our acreage prospective for dry natural gas production, we will be concentrating on our higher return, liquids-rich acreage almost exclusively this year. Our 2012 capital expenditures are currently estimated to be $575 to $625 million, and our current goal is to increase our 2012 production over our 2011 production by 14%–20%. (See also Marketing.)

February 23, 2012: PRESS RELEASE; 2011 Form 10-K; 2011 FOURTH QUARTER WEBCAST. Swift Energy produced 2.70 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe) during the fourth quarter of 2011, a 24% increase over fourth quarter 2010 production, and a 6% sequential increase compared to third quarter 2011 production of 2.54 MMBoe.

We had an average daily production for the quarter of slightly more than 29,000 barrels of oil equivalent (Boe) and a year-end daily production rate of greater than 31,000 Boe. Contributions to the daily production during the fourth quarter were approximately 66% from South Texas, approximately 26% from Southeast Louisiana, and approximately 8% from Central Louisiana/East Texas.

During all of 2011, we produced 10.53 MMBoe, an increase of 26% from our 2010 production of 8.33 MMBoe. The 2011 production was comprised of 3.9 MMBoe oil, 1.4 MMBoe natural gas liquids, and 5.3 MMBoe natural gas. Our South Texas area contributed 56.4% of our total production, of which 37.2% was from the AWP field. The Southeast Louisiana area contributed 30.1%, and the Central Louisiana/East Texas area contributed 13.1%.

November 15, 2011: PRESS RELEASE. Our preliminary plans for 2012 project capital expenditures of $575 to $625 million. These expenditures will be allocated primarily towards drilling and completion activities, with approximately 75%–80% of expected expenditures focused on the company’s liquids-rich acreage in the Eagle Ford shale and the Olmos sands in South Texas. The remainder of the 2012 expenditures are expected to be directed towards drilling oil wells in our Southeast Louisiana core area and Austin Chalk oil and natural gas development wells in our Central Louisiana/East Texas core area.

Based upon these preliminary spending plans for next year, the company is targeting production to grow 20%–25% and reserves to grow 15%–20% over 2011 levels.

November 3, 2011: PRESS RELEASE; 2011 THIRD QUARTER FORM 10Q. As a result of increased activity levels in South Texas, our third-quarter 2011 production was 2.54 MMBoe, an increase of 23% when compared to 2010 third-quarter production of 2.07 MMBoe. Natural gas production increased 67% (to 8.15 Bcf), while crude oil production decreased 7% (to 937 MBbl) and NGL production decreased 4% (to 247 MBbl) from the same period in 2011.

A comparison of our third-quarter production by core area for the third quarter of 2010 and 2011 is as follows:

Sequentially, our production decreased 4% from the 2.64 MMBoe produced in the second quarter of 2011. Events affecting production volumes during the third quarter include: Tropical Storm Lee shutting in production across South Louisiana, delays in the commissioning of a third-party natural gas pipeline and processing plant in McMullen County, TX, periodic transportation and processing curtailments under existing interruptible agreements (also in McMullen County) and the failure in late September of a third-party operated natural gas gathering line in Webb County, TX. Additionally, late in the third quarter, a contracted drilling rig went out of service to undergo significant repairs. The loss of drilling activity caused by this rig being out of service will also affect our fourth-quarter production volumes and our year-end exit rate. These events negatively impacted production by approximately 120,000 Boe in the third quarter and are expected to negatively impact full-year 2011 production by approximately 530,000 Boe.

During the first week of November, Swift Energy resumed production and sales of natural gas from the Eagle Ford shale in the Fasken field in Webb County, TX. This production had been shut in as a result of a third-party pipeline failure, which was announced on September 29. Intermittent production curtailments are expected in this area as work necessary to ensure the integrity of the system is performed by the operator.

Our year-end production exit rate is expected to be 31,000 – 33,000 Boe/day. We still anticipate some temporary third-party service, infrastructure, and transportation delays, which will affect the on-line dates of certain wells that were included in our previous exit rate target of 34,000 – 36,000 Boe/day. This revised exit rate target represents a 17% - 24% increase over our 2010 production exit rate.

We realized an aggregate average price of $56.31 per Boe during the third quarter, up from the $51.06 per Boe average price received in the third quarter of 2010. In the third quarter of 2011, average crude oil prices increased 38% to $105.55 per barrel from $76.39 per barrel realized in the same period in 2010. For the same periods, average natural gas prices were $3.68 per Mcf, a decrease of 5% from the $3.87 per Mcf domestic average price realized a year earlier. Prices for NGLs averaged $57.76 per barrel in the third quarter, a 45% increase from third-quarter 2010 NGL prices of $39.88 per barrel.

September 29, 2011: PRESS RELEASE. Failure of a third party operated gathering line earlier this week halted natural gas sales from our Fasken field in Webb County, TX. Gross natural gas sales volumes in the Fasken field were averaging approximately 40 million gross cubic feet per day before the failure occurred, and continued well productivity above initial expectations in this area led us to recently raise our expected well recovery estimates to 10 billion cubic feet per well. While we expect pipeline services to resume in the near future, the estimation of a service restoration date requires that the pipeline operator complete a full review of the damages and determine a specific repair timeline. This incident will result in our third-quarter production being slightly below the low end of our previous guidance of 2.56 – 2.76 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe).

Our third-quarter production will also be negatively impacted by previously announced shut-ins along the Louisiana coast during Tropical Storm Lee, delays in the commissioning of dedicated transportation and processing through a newly constructed third-party pipeline handling natural gas production in McMullen County, TX, and periodic transportation and processing curtailments under existing interruptible natural gas agreements that we have in McMullen County.

Finally, we have obtained the additional planned rig for our South Texas area to drill Olmos and Eagle Ford horizontal wells. However, another rig currently under contract recently experienced a major mechanical problem and is expected to be out of service for much of the rest of the year. This will impact our drilling schedule until planned activity can be resumed or the rig replaced. The impact on our fourth-quarter production of this rig's absence combined with the pipeline service outage in Webb County cannot be fully determined at this time.

September 6, 2011: PRESS RELEASE. Because of the risk of adverse weather conditions caused by Tropical Storm Lee, we implemented standard shut-down procedures in several of our coastal Louisiana properties, including the Lake Washington field in Plaquemines Parish, the Bay de Chene field in Jefferson and Lafourche Parishes, and the Horseshoe Bayou, Bayou Sale, and Cote Blanche Island fields in St. Mary's Parish. All nonessential personnel and equipment were evacuated from these fields.

Field operations necessary to safely bring production levels back to normal levels have begun. Some minor damage has been observed in certain areas but is not expected to impact ongoing operations. Current 2011 production and operational forecasts will be updated if necessary once the impact of Tropical Storm Lee on Swift Energy's operations is known.

August 4, 2011: PRESS RELEASE; 2011 SECOND QUARTER FORM 10Q; 2011 SECOND QUARTER WEBCAST. As previously reported (see July 25, 2011 press release), our production during the second quarter of 2011totaled 2.64 MMBoe, a 30% increase compared to our production of 2.03 MMBoe during the second quarter of 2010. Sequentially, our production decreased slightly from the 2.65 MMBoe we produced in the first quarter of 2011 as our natural gas production, primarily in McMullen County, Texas, was periodically curtailed throughout the quarter by a large pipeline operator and completely shut in for approximately four days at the end of June.

Our 2011second-quarter production consisted of 994 MBbl of oil (37.6%), 335 MMbl of natural gas liquids (12.7%), and 1,312 MBoe of natural gas (49.7%). Compared to our 2010 second-quarter production, this represented a 2% increase for crude oil, a 20% increase for natural gas liquids, and a 70% increase for natural gas.

Contributions to the total 2011 second-quarter production by our core areas were: 1,372 MBoe (or 52%) from South Texas; 821 MBoe (31%) from Southeast Louisiana; and 435 MBoe (16%) from Central Louisiana/East Texas. Average daily production rates during the quarter were 15,242 net Boe for South Texas, 9,117 net Boe for Southeast Louisiana, and 4,829 net Boe for Central Louisiana/East Texas. (Note: The Central Louisiana/East Texas core area now includes the former South Louisiana core area.)

Our production in the first half of 2011 totaled 5.29 MMBoe, a 30% increase from our production of 4.07 MMBoe in the first half of 2010. Contributions to the 2011 first half production by the core areas were: 2,733 MBoe (52%) from South Texas; 1,690 MBoe (32%) from Southeast Louisiana; and 837 MBoe (16%) from Central Louisiana/East Texas.

Commenting on expected production increases in all three of the company’s core areas of operation during the last half of the year, CEO Terry Swift said, “We expect to grow 2011 production between 28% to 34% over 2010 levels and are just beginning to see the benefits of a tightly coordinated project management and development program.... We expect to quickly ramp up our daily production rate once a previously announced pipeline that will provide up to 90 million cubic feet per day of dedicated processing and transportation capacity is completed [in the AWP field] by the end of the third quarter (see March 8, 2011, press release). Our anticipated year-end production exit rate is 34,000 to 36,000 Boe per day, a 28% to 35% increase over our 2010 production exit rate."

July 25, 2011: PRESS RELEASE. Our second quarter 2011 production volumes totaled 2.64 MMBoe, 30% higher than second quarter 2010 production volumes and approximately the same as first quarter 2011 production volumes of 2.65 MMBoe. These lower than expected second quarter volumes were associated entirely with natural gas production in South Texas.  The largest factors affecting these sales volumes were pipeline curtailments, principally in late June. 

Maintenance projects by a large pipeline operator that currently provides processing and transportation for our natural gas production in McMullen County caused a shut-in of Swift operated production there for approximately four days at the end of the quarter.  Additionally, this same pipeline operator experienced periodic capacity constraints throughout the quarter that also limited our natural gas production. 

Construction of a pipeline related to a previously announced long-term processing and transportation agreement with a new midstream provider is well underway, and we expect to have up to 90 MMcf of gas per day of firm capacity available to us by the end of the third quarter.  Until then, we expect continued pressure on natural gas sales volumes in McMullen County, limiting the amount of our production which can be sold.  Even as second quarter volumes were (and third quarter production volumes potentially could be) limited by capacity constraints, we still expect 2011 production to grow considerably over 2010 levels and will widen the range of our full-year production forecast by 2% to accommodate the current short-term uncertainties in the pipeline capacity situation in McMullen County.  We now expect production for 2011 to be 10.7 to 11.2 MMBoe, 28% to 34% above 2010 production.

May 5, 2011: PRESS RELEASE; 2011 FIRST QUARTER 10-Q. Swift Energy’s first quarter 2011 production was 2.65 MMBoe, an increase of 29% (or 0.6 MMBoe) when compared to 2010 first quarter production of 2.04 MMBoe. Contributions from the core areas of operation were 870 MBoe from Southeast Louisiana, 1,361 MBoe from South Texas, 402 MBoe from Central Louisiana/East Texas, and 13 MBoe from non-core properties. (Note: The Central Louisiana/East Texas area now includes the former South Louisiana area.)

Natural gas production increased 65%; crude oil production increased 4%; and NGL production increased 15%. Sequentially, production increased 21% from the 2.18 MMBoe produced in fourth quarter of 2010, as liquids production increased 5%.

Oil production accounted for 37% of our first quarter 2011 production and 67% of our oil and gas revenues, and combined production for both oil and NGL made up 50% of our first quarter 2011 production and 79% of our oil and gas sales. This emphasis has allowed us to benefit from better margins for oil production than natural gas production during the quarter.

Oil and gas sales for the first quarter 2011 totaled $144.2 million. This was an increase of 31%, or $34.2 million, from the sales for the comparable 2010 period. The Company realized an aggregate average price of $54.51 per Boe during first quarter 2011, up from the $53.81 per Boe average price received in first quarter 2010. Average crude oil prices increased 26% to $98.61 per barrel from $78.10 per barrel realized in the same period in 2010. Average natural gas prices were $3.82 per Mcf, a decrease of 19% from the $4.74 per Mcf domestic average price realized a year earlier. Prices for NGLs averaged $48.87 per barrel in the first quarter, a 9% increase from first quarter 2010 NGL prices of $44.71 per barrel.

Strong first quarter operational results coupled with improving efficiencies and performance of recent wells allow us to raise our full year 2011 production guidance from a 25% to 30% increase to an increase of 30% to 33% over 2010 production levels.

During the first quarter, Swift Energy engaged Macquarie Tristone to facilitate the sale of certain non-strategic properties located in Louisiana and Texas. The fields in Louisiana include Horseshoe Bayou/Bayou Sale, High Island, Bayou Penchant, Jeanerette, Cote Blanche Island, and Chunchula. Aggregate daily production of these fields is approximately 1,557 Boe per day. The Texas fields include Bego South and Briscoe Ranch. The total daily production of these two fields in Texas is approximately 372 Boe per day.

February 24, 2011: 2010 Form 10-K. Swift Energy reported that its 2010 production was as follows:

February 10, 2011: PRESS RELEASE. Swift Energy announced its fourth quarter 2010 production totaled approximately 2.18 MMBoe, or approximately 23,750 Boe per day, an increase of 5% when compared to the 2.07 MMBoe (~22,500 Boe per day) produced in the third quarter of 2010 and a 1% decrease compared to fourth quarter 2009 production of 2.21 MMBoe.  Production has continued to trend upward in 2011, averaging approximately 26,600 Boe per day during the month of January, with increasing production levels anticipated throughout 2011.  As previously guided, the company currently expects 2011 full-year production to increase 25% to 30% over 2010 levels.

November 10, 2010: PRESS RELEASE. Swift Energy announced a preliminary 2011 capital budget of $430 million to $450 million to cover an accelerated drilling program with a production growth goal of 25% to 30% and a reserves growth goal of 15% to 20%. Approximately 75% to 80% of the capital budget will be spent in our South Texas core area, much of it on drilling oil and condensate development wells on acreage proved up in 2010 in the Eagle Ford shale and Olmos sands. The remainder will be directed towards oil production in our Southeast Louisiana core area and high-rate Austin Chalk oil and natural gas development wells in our Central Louisiana/East Texas core area. This program will be partially funded by proceeds from a public offering of 3 million shares of the company’s common stock also announced on November 10.

November 4, 2010: PRESS RELEASE; 2010 THIRD QUARTER 10-Q. Swift’s 2010 third quarter production was 2.07 MMBoe (approximately 22,500 Boe per day), a decrease of 7% when compared to our 2009 third quarter production of 2.22 MMBoe.

This third quarter production represented an increase of 2% from our 2010 second quarter production of 2.03 MMBoe (approximately 22,300 Boe per day). The increase resulted from increased activity levels in our South Texas core area, but was less than had been anticipated because of unexpected and uncontrollable delays in scheduling fracture stimulation services during the third quarter. At the end of the quarter, we had 12 horizontal wells awaiting fracture stimulation; starting in the fourth quarter, we will have dedicated fracture stimulation equipment and services under a previously announced exclusive 24-month contract with a large oil field service company. With work under this contract beginning in October, we have already increased our completion schedule from one horizontal well per month to four wells in October.

These uncertainties in the scheduling of stimulation services have led us to reduce our forecasted year-end corporate daily production rate to 26,000 to 28,000 net Boe per day (from an earlier projection of 28,000 to 30,000 net Boe per day). This reduced production rate corresponds to a 15% to 24% increase from our third quarter 2010 average daily production rate.

The overall impact of the scheduling delays will be a delay of approximately 525,000 Boe of production until 2011. As a result, our projection for our full year 2010 production has been reduced to 8.30 to 8.50 MMBoe (from an earlier projection of 8.85 to 9.15 MMBoe). This projection includes a 2% to 9% sequential increase in our fourth quarter 2010 production over our third quarter 2010 production levels.

Our 2010 third quarter production consisted of 48.5% oil, 12.4% NLG, and 39.1% natural gas. Our emphasis on liquids production (oil and NGL made up 60.9% of our total third quarter production) continues to allow us to benefit from better margins for liquids than for natural gas.

The contributions to the third quarter 2010 production from the core areas of operation were 934 net MBoe (45.1%) from Southeast Louisiana, 796 net MBoe (38.4%) from South Texas, 192 net MBoe (9.3%) from Central Louisiana/East Texas, 145 net MBoe (7.0%) from South Louisiana, and 5 net MBoe (0.2%) from non-core properties.

The company realized an aggregate average price of $51.06 per Boe during third quarter 2010, an increase of 16% from the $44.14 per Boe average price received in the third quarter 2009. For the same periods, average crude oil prices increased 12% to $76.39 per barrel from $68.15 per barrel; average natural gas prices increased 36% to $3.87 per Mcf from $2.84 per Mcf; and average prices for natural gas liquids increased 14% to $39.88 per barrel from $35.09 per barrel.

September 23, 2010: PRESS RELEASE. Swift Energy has entered into a long-term agreement for natural gas gathering and treating services in South Texas  with Meritage Midstream Services’ subsidiary, Eagle Ford Escondido Gathering.  This agreement will involve the construction of a new pipeline to our Fasken operating area (Las Tiendas Field) in Webb County, TX.  We will have up to 40 million cubic feet of gas per day of firm capacity on this new pipeline, which is expected to be completed by December 1, 2010.

We have also agreed to a long-term sales contract with Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline LLC that is indexed to market and will be delivered to a new connection with the Kinder Morgan system.

August 5, 2010: PRESS RELEASE; 2010 SECOND QUARTER 10-Q. Swift’s 2010 second quarter production was 2.03 MMBoe (approximately 22,300 Boe per day), a decrease of 10% from the company’s 2009 second quarter production of 2.26 MMBoe and a decrease of 1% from its 2010 first quarter production of 2.04 MMBoe (approximately 22,700 Boe/day). The decrease resulted from our increased focus on producing oil and natural gas liquids (which have a higher value per unit volume), scheduling delays associated with completion (fracturing) operations in South Texas, and natural declines.

Our second quarter 2010 production consisted of 48.3% oil, 13.8% NLG, and 37.9% natural gas. Our emphasis on liquids production (oil and NGL made up 62% of our total second quarter production) has allowed us to benefit from better margins for liquids than for natural gas thus far in 2010.

The contributions to the second quarter 2010 production from the core areas of operation were 944 net MBoe (46.5%) from Southeast Louisiana, 732 net MBoe (36.1%) from South Texas, 175 net MBoe (8.6%) from Central Louisiana/East Texas, 171 net MBoe (8.4%) from South Louisiana, and 6 net MBoe (0.3%) from non-core properties.

The company realized an aggregate average price of $51.80 per Boe during second quarter 2010, an increase of 41% from the $36.71 per Boe received in second quarter 2009 and a decrease of 4% from the $53.81 per Boe received in first quarter 2010. Average crude oil prices increased 40% to $77.83 per barrel from $55.42 per barrel in second quarter 2009; average natural gas prices increased 19% to $3.72 per Mcf from $3.11 per Mcf in second quarter 2009; and natural gas liquids (NGL) increased 48% to $41.92 per barrel from $28.26 per barrel in second quarter 2009.

With our drilling activities in South Texas expected to accelerate and the scheduling problems with completion activities to be alleviated in the fourth quarter (see E&D section), we now expect our daily production rate to increase to a range of 28,000 to 30,000 Boe per day by year-end 2010, which is higher than the 10% increase from the 2009 exit rate we had projected earlier. But because of our focus on lower volume, higher value crude oil and liquids production throughout the year, together with the aforementioned completion delays that persisted during most of the year, we are now projecting that our full-year production will be 8.85 to 9.15 MMBoe in 2010 compared to 9.1 MMBoe in 2009.

For additional information, please see the latest Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.