RTRS:Enerplus profit falls 63 pct on weak natgas prices
(Reuters) - Canadian oil and gas producer Enerplus Corp's (ERF.TO: Quote) second-quarter profit fell 63 percent on weak natural gas prices, but it raised its average production forecast for the year.
The company now expects 2012 production to average 83,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), up from its prior forecast of 83,000 boe/d.
Net income fell to C$100.3 million ($101.1 million), or 51 Canadian cents per share, from C$268 million, or C$1.50 per share, a year earlier.
Average production rose 9 percent to 82,108 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Natural gas prices have fallen 46 percent in the April-June quarter from last year to average $2.4 per million British thermal unit.
($1 = 0.9918 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)
