“We’re finding ways to deliver the same level of production for less capital and less operating cost. So we kind of think we’re taking a pretty measured approach here,” senior vice-president Andy O’Brien (who will soon take over as chief financial officer) told analysts. “We want to take our time to better understand [the] potential depth or duration of any ongoing commodity price weakness before we determine if we really need to make any changes to our program.”
First-quarter production, second-quarter guidance
ConocoPhillips’ production averaged nearly 2.39 million boe/d in the first 3 months of this year, which was the first period that included the operations of Marathon, which the company acquired late last year (OGJ Online, May 29, 2024). Its assets in the Lower 48 produced an average of 1.46 billion boe/d, with 816,000 boe/d of that coming from the Permian basin, a record 379,000 from the Eagle Ford, and 212,000 from the Bakken.
For the current quarter, Lance and his team are forecasting 2.34-2.38 MMboe/d of total production, in line with the first-quarter number even though ConocoPhillips completed the sales of $1.3 billion worth of assets in Lower 48 early this year.
Shares of ConocoPhillips (Ticker: COP) popped after the earnings report and conference call but gave up some of those gains in the next few trading sessions. On May 12, they were rallying more than 4% to nearly $93 as the broader market rose on the heels of progress in US-China trade talks. Over the past 6 months, they have lost about 15% of their value, which has trimmed the company’s market capitalization to about $117 billion.