Notes, and used the proceeds along with our considerable cash position to repurchase all $552.5 million principal amount of the outstanding 2023 Senior Second Lien Notes. The benefits were seen in the second quarter with our significantly lower interest expense. We maintained our strong cash and cash equivalents position at $171.6 million and our Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio remains low at 0.9 times. Operationally, we continued our successful workover program and were pleased to recently be awarded the two leases on which we were high bidders in the GOM lease sale back in March.”
Mr. Krohn continued, “In early July we appointed Sameer Parasnis as our new Chief Financial Officer and welcomed him to our senior leadership team. Sameer has served as a trusted financial advisor for many years, including on key strategic initiatives like our drilling joint venture, corporate debt refinancing, non-recourse term loan financing and our opportunistic At-The-Market equity offering in 2022. We are confident that his extensive experience with our business, energy markets and our leadership team will greatly benefit W&T and our shareholders.”
Mr. Krohn concluded, “With our financial flexibility and strong liquidity position, we believe we are very well positioned to take advantage of potential acquisitions that may present themselves in the near term and poised to continue delivering on our strategic vision. Our management team is closely aligned with our shareholders through our sizeable stock ownership position. We remain committed to enhancing shareholder value through a proven strategy focused on free cash flow generation and operational excellence, which we believe positions us well for the future.”
Production, Prices, and Revenue: Production for the second quarter of 2023 was 37.0 MBoe/d, which was at the midpoint of the Company’s guidance range provided for the quarter. This represented an increase of 14% from 32.5 Mboe/d for the first quarter of 2023 and a decrease of 13% from 42.4 MBoe/d for the corresponding period in 2022. The increase in production compared to the first quarter of 2023 was primarily driven by recovery from first quarter 2023 unplanned downtime at non-operated fields and extended planned downtime associated with a maintenance project at the Company’s Mobile Bay onshore treatment facility to properly maintain, inspect and clean out process vessels in the plant as well as pipeline maintenance, which shut in production at the Mobile Bay field for 35 days. Second quarter 2023 production was comprised of 13.8 MBbl/d of oil (37%), 4.9 MBbl/d of natural gas liquids (“NGLs”) (13%), and 110.1 million cubic feet per day (“MMcf/d”) of natural gas (50%).
W&T’s average realized price per barrel of oil equivalent (“Boe”) before realized derivative settlements was $36.76 per Boe in the second quarter of 2023, a decrease of 17% from $44.32 per Boe in the first quarter of 2023 and a decrease of 47% from $69.55 per Boe in the second quarter of 2022. Crude oil, NGL, and natural gas prices, before realized derivative settlements for the second quarter of 2023, were $71.76 per barrel, $23.44 per barrel, and $2.34 per Mcf, respectively.
Revenues for the second quarter of 2023 were $126.2 million, which was lower than first quarter 2023 revenue of $131.7 million and lower than $273.8 million in the second quarter of 2022, due primarily to lower realized prices.
Lease Operating Expense: Lease operating expense (“LOE”), which includes base lease operating expenses, insurance premiums, workovers and facilities maintenance, was $66.0 million in the second quarter of 2023, which was below the midpoint of the previously provided guidance range. This compared to $65.2 million in the first quarter of 2023 and $53.0 million for the corresponding period in 2022. On a component basis for the second quarter of 2023, base LOE and insurance premiums were $48.2 million, workovers were $9.0 million, and facilities maintenance and other expenses were $8.8 million. On a unit of production basis, LOE was $19.60 per Boe in the second quarter of 2023. This compares to $22.29 per Boe for the first quarter of 2023 and $13.73 per Boe for the second quarter of 2022.
Gathering, Transportation Costs, and Production Taxes: Gathering, transportation costs and production taxes totaled $6.8 million ($2.02 per Boe) in the second quarter of 2023, compared to $6.1 million ($2.10 per Boe) in the first quarter of 2023 and $9.2 million ($2.38 per Boe) in the second quarter of 2022. Production taxes decreased on a per Boe basis due to lower realized natural gas prices during the second quarter of 2023.
Depreciation, Depletion, Amortization and Accretion (“DD&A”): DD&A, including accretion expense related to asset retirement obligations (“ARO”), was $10.66 per Boe in the second quarter of 2023. This compares to $10.31 per Boe and $8.90 per Boe for the first quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2022, respectively.
General & Administrative Expenses (“G&A”): G&A was $17.4 million for the second quarter of 2023, which decreased by 13% compared to the first quarter of 2023. Employee salaries and benefits costs were higher in the first quarter of 2023 due to payment of the amounts due under the 2022 short-term incentive compensation plan in the first quarter of 2023. General and administrative expense increased year over year primarily due to an increase in employee