Penn West Exploration deepened its losses in the fourth quarter on higher spending.
The Calgary-based oil and gas producer, formerly Penn West Energy Trust, said losses reached $21-million or 5 cents a share.
That's a bigger loss than the $12-million, or 3 cents per share booked a year ago, but less than the loss of 9 cents per share expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters.
Capital spending doubled to $400-million from $196-million a year earlier.
Gross revenues slipped to $782-million, above expectations of $735-million but below the $831-million a year ago.
Production for the quarter rose to 166,148 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 164,087 barrels.
Penn West is known mainly for its vast conventional oil operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan. This year, it landed joint ventures with two major Asian investors to develop assets that would have otherwise laid dormant.