ConocoPhillips beats first-quarter profit target, announces CFO retirement
(Reuters) - ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Thursday and said Chief Financial Officer Bill Bullock will retire after nearly four decades with the oil and gas producer.
The company’s $22.5 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) in November has boosted ConocoPhillips’ presence in the Permian, Eagle Ford and Bakken basins, and added new operations in the Anadarko shale formation and Equatorial Guinea.
ConocoPhillips’ first-quarter production stood at 2.38 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMBOED), up 487,000 boepd from the year-ago quarter.
The higher output helped offset the impact of weak oil prices, which led to a 6% fall in the company’s total average realized price per barrel to $53.34.
The company is confident about its "competitive advantage" amid the ongoing "volatile macro environment," CEO Ryan Lance said, and maintained its full-year production forecast at 2.34 to 2.38 MMBOED.
ConocoPhillips reduced its full-year capital budget by $450 million to $12.3 billion-$12.6 billion, but kept its $10 billion shareholder returns target for the year largely unchanged.
It spent $2.5 billion in shareholder returns in the quarter.
Shares of the Texas-based company were up 2.3%.
Investor focus will be on the company’s commentary regarding shareholder returns amid a weaker oil and macro environment, RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a note.
On an adjusted basis, ConocoPhillips reported a profit of $2.09 per share for the reported quarter, above analysts’ average estimate of $2.06, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Separately, ConocoPhillips said Andy O’Brien will succeed CFO Bullock, effective on June 1.
ConocoPhillips completed several big-ticket deals during his tenure, including the sale of assets in Australia to Santos Limited in 2020, the $9.7 billion acquisition of Concho Resources (NYSE:CXO) in 2021, and the most recent Marathon Oil acquisition.
