Forest Oil Corp. said Wednesday that its board named Patrick McDonald as the natural gas and oil producer’s president and chief executive, effective immediately. He had been interim CEO since June.
Separately on Wednesday, Forest raised its production guidance for the second half of the year, boosted its capital spending guidance and announced plans for a $300 million debt offering.
Its shares slipped 31 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $7.86 in premarket trading. As of Tuesday’s closing price of $8.17, its shares had risen about 44 percent from their low of $5.68 on July 12.
McDonald, 55, took over as the Denver-based company’s interim CEO since the departure of H. Craig Clark, who had been CEO since 2003. McDonald has been a member of Forest’s board since 2004 and has 20 years of experience as a CEO in the industry, Forest said.
Most recently, McDonald has served as chief executive, president and a director of Carbon Natural Gas Co., an oil and gas exploration company, and its predecessor company Nytis USA, since 2004. He also has served as Carbon Natural’s chairman since 2011, Forest said.
Separately, Forest Oil said it expects its net sales volumes to average about 330 million to 340 million cubic feet of gas equivalent per day for the second half of the year. That’s up from its July prediction of 320 million to 330 million cubic feet of gas equivalent.
The company also raised its second-half capital spending prediction by about $50 million to a range of $240 million to $260 million.
Also on Wednesday, the company announced plans to sell $300 million of senior unsecured notes due 2020 through a private offering.
Forest said it plans to use the net proceeds from the offering, along with other borrowings, to fund the redemption of half of its $600 million in outstanding 8.5 percent senior notes due in 2014.
