Upstream oil and gas (E&P) companies in the past have benefited from high crude oil prices. Thus, it would be reasonable to assume that most E&P companies should benefit from the rapid and unprecedented rise in crude oil prices to $100 per barrel in the recent past. However, our analysis of recent reported performance (Sep-07) shows that for a variety of reasons, this is not the case for a number of E&P companies. The average of the monthly price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude at Cushing Oklahoma as reported by the Department of Energy, U.S. (DOE) rose $5.1 per barrel or 7.25% y/y to $75.48 per barrel during the Sep-07 quarter. Despite this, some of the upstream companies have reported lower revenue during the Sep-07 quarter. read more…