TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US-based Consol Energy has swung to a first-quarter loss as the company’s revenue declined and it was impacted by several once-off charges, the company announced on Thursday.

Consol posted a loss of $1.6-million or a penny a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $97.2-million or $0.42 a share.

Excluding once-off items, the company posted earnings of $275.48-million or $0.19 a share in the quarter ended March 31. Wall Street analysts had expected adjusted earnings of $0.18 a share on revenue of $1.27-billion.

The company said several once-off items, totalling $62.5-million, impacted the quarter’s financials. Among these expenses counted an expected $15.2-million impact from the Blacksville No 2 mine fire in March.

The company’s revenue slid by 9.6% year-on-year to $1.9-billion in the period.

The company's liquidity remained at $2.4-billion, despite investing $406-million on capital projects in the first quarter.

Consol said results were aided by lower production costs at the company's flagship low-volatile Buchanan mine, where total costs per sold ton in the quarter were $64.42, compared with $71.71/t in the quarter ended December 31, and $90.74/t in the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Earlier this month, Consol reported surging coal production of 14.8-million tons for the quarter, beating its January guidance of 14-million tons.

Consol had in recent months been focused on developing its natural-gas operations, as a result of lagging demand from traditional users, which had switched to burning cheaper natural gas. In a partnership with Hess Corporation, it is jointly developing its Utica Shale holdings in Ohio.

Consol said it expected to produce between 13.25-million and 13.75-million tons of coal in the second quarter, and between 55.5-million and 57.5-million tons for the full year.

The gas division produced 39.2 Bcfe in the quarter, 4% higher than the year-earlier period.

Second-quarter gas production was expected to range between 38 Bcfe to 40 Bcfe, relatively flat compared with first-quarter production. The company expected to produce between 170 Bcfe and 180 Bcfe of attributable natural gas this year.

Consol’s NYSE-listed stock was trading at $33.37 apiece on Thursday.