In the first sixth months of 2020, ConocoPhillips realized a price of $32.15 per barrel of oil or … [+] equivalent, compared ...

In the first sixth months of 2020, ConocoPhillips realized a price of $32.15 per barrel of oil or … [+]
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Curtailments of oil and gas production by leading U.S. producer ConocoPhillips
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Conoco curtailed production everywhere from Alaska to Canada to North Dakota’s Bakken shale patch to the Eagle Ford basin in Texas, pausing 225,000 barrels per day (b/d) overall. It began making cuts after oil prices started cratered in March because of evaporating oil demand. With much of its production shut in and sales for unaffected output sharply lower, Conoco recorded a loss of $1.5 billion (or $1.37 per share) for the first six months of 2020.
Shares of ConocoPhillips initially fell around 9% after it released earnings but have since recovered around half of that.
Chief executive officer Ryan Lance said that Conoco had begun restoring production. “As the market strengthened late in the second quarter, we began reversing our second-quarter curtailments and ramping up production across the Lower 48, Alaska and Canada.”
Conoco’s production was also hit by the widespread shut-in of production in Libya because of military and political conflict there. Conoco’s Libya operations produced just 5,000 b/d of oil or the equivalent in the first six months of the year and none in the second quarter, compared with 45,000 b/d in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Conoco was hardly the only oil company to shut in output. Apache Corpration
APA
Still, the quarterly decline in Conoco’s production due in large part to shut-ins easily exceeds the decline in output from at least four other producers that have also reported quarterly results: QEP Resources, Concho Resources, WPX Energy, and Apache.
Some of these companies were better insulated from the price crash than others because they were extensively covered by financial hedges, allowing them to sell fresh crude oil not at prevailing market prices but at higher prices spelled out in futures contracts. Concho Resources in particular was well-hedged, analysts said.
With more second quarter results due in coming days — Chevron
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