On Thursday, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) reported its third quarter earnings and discussed the following topics in its earnings conference call. Take a look.
Future Development and Exploration:
Edward Westlake – Credit Suisse: Congratulations on the results and it certainly feels that confidence in 2016 growth and margin improvement is building. I guess I have a question just looking beyond 2016, I mean as you look across the portfolio, do you think non-conventional shale is enough or what should we focus most on do you think in the sort of predrilled potential to the offshore portfolio?
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Ryan M. Lance – Chairman and CEO: I think as we look out beyond 2016 that’s the work that Matt alluded to in the operating update is, we’re working both on the conventional and the unconventional side of the exploration business. So, I think you’ll watch both those spaces globally in the Gulf of Mexico. deepwater and in North America, and we hope globally in the unconventional space as well. We’re working that pretty hard right now to load up the inventory for the latter half of this decade.
Edward Westlake – Credit Suisse: Then a more specific question, just coming in on the Eagle Ford. Obviously, you’ve got some good production performance there. Could you just remind us what acre spacing you’re planning your production on and any IP rate targets that are behind that target because it feels like if you’re already up at 100 and you’ve got 110,000 barrels a day guidance for 2013, that the well performance or the efficiency or something is changing, that means you’re ahead?
Matt Fox – EVP, Exploration and Production: So, we have 230,000 acres in total. We’re currently thinking that the ultimate spacing will be about 80 acres, so that’s what we’re planning for, and that results in about 1.8 billion BOE associated with the play, but we have pilot test going on, several pilot test going on in Eagle Ford, where we’re testing different technologies and different spacing, so that might change over time as we learn more. Our IPs continues to be in the order of 1,200 plus barrels a day. We’re seeing strong IPs compared to the industry average; we think our completions are working well there.
Edward Westlake – Credit Suisse: Just to confirm those IPs what time period?
Matt Fox – EVP, Exploration and Production: It would be 30 days.
Edward Westlake – Credit Suisse: They would be pretty good.
Production Growth:
Doug Terreson – ISI: Congratulations on your results. Ryan you mentioned a minute ago that underlying production growth was 3% in q3 and it looks like we are going to have another 3% gain in Q4 so the first question is whether or not that’s your expectation for Q4 as well. Then second, obviously higher production is important, but your profitability and returns were near the highest level of the year, during the third quarter as well. So I want to see if you could specify some of the functional and/or geographical drivers behind the improvement and returns as well.
Ryan M. Lance – Chairman and CEO: We gave you kind of a range for the full year and expect us to come in that range pretty well. So you can see the growth that’s coming in the fourth quarter I think as we look across the portfolio we came out of the turnaround season pretty well we’ve added rate in China and Libya in the Canadian business unit, and then the wrap up in the unconventionals in the US are providing a lot of the production growth that we are seeing in the third and the fourth quarter. Those areas are also as we see prices bouncing around differential bouncing around as well. Those same areas have led to the income and margin improvements that we’re seeing as well primarily China coming back and the growth in the both North American unconventional some of him and Canadian oil sands okay.
Doug Terreson – ISI: Then also the administratively the exit rate for NMNG was 20,000 to 25,000 barrels per day is that about right?
Ryan M. Lance – Chairman and CEO: No the exit rate was probably closer to 11,000 or less.
A Closer Look: Conoco Phillips Earnings Cheat Sheet>>
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