May 1 (Reuters) - APA Corp ( APA ) missed Wall Street

estimates for first-quarter profit on Wednesday as the oil and

gas producer weighed down by lower production in the period.

Natural gas producers such as APA, with high exposure to

declining natural gas prices, have resorted to curtailing

production and reduce spending to offset the price fall.

APA reported total production of 389,157 barrels of oil

equivalent per day (boepd) compared with 394,249 boepd in the

year-ago quarter.

The company had announced in April that it had already put

in place output cuts of about 35 million cubic feet per day of

natural gas production during the first quarter after disclosing

that it expects oil and gas production to be relatively flat

year-over-year.

The Houston-based company recently closed its acquisition of

Callon Petroleum, which would strengthen its asset base in the

Permian Basin.

Following the deal, the company now plans to invest $2.7

billion in upstream oil and gas and expects to average about 10

rigs for the remainder of the year in the U.S. The company had

previously planned to invest $1.9 billion to $2.0 billion in

2024.

"We have increased our expected annual cost synergies from

the transaction by 50% to $225 million", said CEO John

Christmann.

The company's adjusted profit was 78 cents per share for

the three months ended March 31, compared with analysts' average

estimate of 94 cents per share, according to LSEG data.