Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) said Jan. 6 that a blast of severe winter weather in West Texas has significantly impacted production and drilling operations in the Spraberry/Wolfcamp area.

The Spraberry/Wolfcamp has been chilled by heavy icing and freezing temperatures resulting in extensive power outages, facility freeze-ups, trucking curtailments and limited access to production and drilling facilities. An extensive recovery period is expected, and it is likely to be several weeks before the full impact of the event can be determined, the company said.

The company said it will provide an update on the effect on production and costs on the first quarter of 2015 as part of its fourth-quarter 2014 earnings release on Feb. 10.

With widespread, severe weather in the Permian, peer operators are likely to release similar updates on production, said Gabriele Sorbara, analyst, Topeka Capital Markets.

“We expect others in our coverage universe to be impacted by the severe weather, including Cimarex Energy (NYSE: XEC), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ: FANG), Energen (NYSE: EGN), Laredo Petroleum (NYSE: LPI) and to a lesser extent Rosetta Resources (NASDAQ: ROSE),” Sorbara said.

PXD projected 200 to 250 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (Mboe/d) in the fourth quarter of 2014. About 113 to 199 Mboe/d, or 57% of PXD’s production, originates in the Spraberry/Wolfcamp. Pioneer said production during the fourth quarter of 2014 was not affected.

Repair time of up to three weeks could cause a “more than trivial” impact on production in the first quarter of 2015, said David Kistler, analyst, Simmons & Co. International.

Estimating 3% quarter-over-quarter growth for first-quarter 2015, total production would increase to about 209 Mboe/d, but with West Texas production of about 119.5 Mboe/d adversely affected, Kistler said.

“If all of their Spraberry/Wolfcamp production was offline for one week, it would result in average total production of about 199 Mboe/d, down 2% quarter over quarter,” Kistler said. “More than likely this is too severe as all of the production did not go offline and production will come back online incrementally over the next couple of weeks.”

Simmons also regards the disruption as short-term.

“Regardless, this will be an area investors will need to monitor on a basin-wide and macro level as we evaluate first-quarter 2015 production growth,” Kistler said.

PXD has also announced Jan. 6 that due to the oil price downturn, it has converted about 85% of its 2015 oil derivative contracts from three-way collars to fixed price swaps to establish a firm oil price and lock in cash flows.

PXD also updated its hedge position Tuesday, most notably converting 85% of its 2015 three-way collars to fixed price swaps, said Daniel Katzenberg, analyst, Baird Energy. In a December presentation the company said it had 96,000 bbl/d at $73.54/bbl short put. PXD remains 85% hedged on oil for 2015 with the majority now swapped at $71.18/bbl.

The move establishes a firm oil price floor and locks in corresponding cash flow, said Pioneer’s Scott D. Sheffield, chairman and CEO.

Pioneer has announced that it will reduce capex in 2015 to $3.3 billion from $3.4 billion. Sorbara said Topeka has modeled $3.2 billion in capex resulting in 17.9% organic growth compared to the consensus of about $3.5 billion capex for 18.7% growth.

“Based on our projections, we model a cash flow shortfall of approximately $1.3 billion in 2015,” he said. “We believe management is well positioned to weather the downturn, given its $1.5 billion of cash on hand and fully undrawn $1.5 billion borrowing base.”