*

Average Q3 oil, gas sales price falls from year earlier

*

Coterra raises 2024 production forecast by 1%

*

Its Q3 oil production rises by 22%

(Adds details about results and background from paragraph 2

onwards)

Oct 31 (Reuters) -

U.S. oil and gas producer Coterra Energy ( CTRA ) missed

Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday due

to weaker commodity prices.

Benchmark natural gas prices remained subdued during much of

the quarter, hurt by high storage levels and tepid demand.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects U.S. gas

production to decline in 2024, the first time since 2020, as

producers like Coterra have reduced their output after prices

touched multi-decade lows.

The company's average sales price for natural gas, excluding

hedges, fell to $1.30 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) from $1.80

per mcf a year earlier. Oil prices also fell 8.4% to $74.04 per

barrel on demand woes.

Total production fell marginally to 669,100 barrels of oil

equivalent per day (boepd) from 670,300 boepd, as declines in

natural gas output were mostly offset by a 22.2% rise in oil

production.

Coterra has reallocated resources to oil-heavy Permian and

Anadarko basins from the country's largest gas producing region,

Marcellus shale, following the slump in natural gas prices this

year.

The company, however, raised 2024 production forecast to a

range of 660,000 to 675,000 boepd, up 1% at midpoint compared to

its earlier projections, primarily backed by strong oil

production.

Its shares rose 1.8% in after-market trade.

The company also forecast oil production to grow at 5%

annually for the next two years.

But it said total equivalent production growth would be in

the range of zero to 5% until 2026.

Coterra's third-quarter net income fell 22% to $252 million,

compared to the year-ago quarter.

Its adjusted profit of 32 cents per share came in below

market estimate of 34 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.