ConocoPhillips 10-Q 2024-03-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2024

or

For the transition period from ___________________ to ___________________

Commission file number: 001-32395

ConocoPhillips

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

925 N. Eldridge Parkway, Houston, TX 77079

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

281-293-1000

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐ Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The registrant had 1,169,533,976 shares of common stock, $.01 par value, outstanding at March 31, 2024.

Table of Contents

Commonly Used Abbreviations

The following industry-specific, accounting and other terms, and abbreviations may be commonly used in this report.

PART I. Financial Information

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

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Management’s Discussion and Analysis is the company’s analysis of its financial performance and of significant trends that may affect future performance. It should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes. It contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements relating to the company’s plans, strategies, objectives, expectations and intentions that are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words “ambition," “anticipate,” “believe,” “budget,” “continue,” “could,” “effort,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “goal,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “projection,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The company does not undertake to update, revise or correct any of the forward-looking information unless required to do so under the federal securities laws. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the company’s disclosures under the heading: “CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE ‘SAFE HARBOR’ PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995,” beginning on page 47**.

The terms “earnings” and “loss” as used in Management’s Discussion and Analysis refer to net income (loss).

Business Environment and Executive Overview

ConocoPhillips is one of the world’s leading E&P companies based on production and reserves, with operations and activities in 13 countries. Our diverse, low cost of supply portfolio includes resource-rich unconventional plays in North America; conventional assets in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia; global LNG developments; oil sands in Canada; and an inventory of global exploration prospects. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, at March 31, 2024, we employed approximately 10,000 people worldwide and had total assets of $95 billion.

Overview

At ConocoPhillips, we anticipate that commodity prices will continue to be cyclical and volatile, and our view is that a successful business strategy in the E&P industry must be resilient in lower price environments, while also retaining upside during periods of higher prices. As such, we are unhedged, remain committed to our disciplined investment framework and continually monitor market fundamentals, including the impacts associated with geopolitical tensions and conflicts, OPEC Plus supply updates, global demand for our products, oil and gas inventory levels, governmental policies, inflation and supply chain disruptions.

The macro-environment of the global energy industry, including the energy transition, continues to evolve. We believe ConocoPhillips will continue to play an essential role by executing on three objectives: responsibly meeting energy transition pathway demand, delivering competitive returns on and of capital and focusing on achieving our net-zero operational emissions ambition. We call this our Triple Mandate, and it represents our commitment to create long-term value for our stakeholders.

Our Triple Mandate and our foundational principles guide our differential value proposition to deliver competitive returns to stockholders through price cycles. Our foundational principles consist of maintaining balance sheet strength, providing peer-leading distributions, making disciplined investments and demonstrating responsible and reliable ESG performance.

In May, we reconfirmed our 2024 planned return of capital to shareholders of at least $9 billion through our three-tier return of capital framework. We also declared a second quarter ordinary dividend of $0.58 per share and a VROC payment of $0.20 per share.

Operationally, we remain focused on safely executing the business while also progressing key strategic initiatives. At Willow, project activity continued to ramp up during our first major winter construction season following FID late last year. In the Lower 48, we continued to execute our program, focusing on operating and capital efficiencies. Internationally, after reaching first production in projects in Canada, Norway and China at the end of 2023, we see production growth as those projects continued to ramp up through additional wells online. Also in March 2024, we received a license extension until 2045 on the partner-operated Heidrun field in Norway.

Production was 1,902 MBOED in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 110 MBOED from the same period a year ago. After adjusting for impacts from closed acquisitions and dispositions, first-quarter 2024 production increased by 43 MBOED or two percent from the same period a year ago.

First-quarter 2024 production resulted in $5.0 billion of cash provided by operating activities. We also returned $1.3 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and $0.9 billion through our ordinary dividend and a VROC. We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaling $6.3 billion and long-term investments in debt securities of $1.1 billion.

Also in the first quarter of 2024, we re-invested $2.9 billion into the business in the form of capital expenditures and investments, with over half of the expenditures related to flexible, short-cycle unconventional plays in the Lower 48 segment, where our production has access to both domestic and export markets.

Business Environment

Commodity prices are the most significant factor impacting our profitability and related returns on and of capital to our shareholders. Dynamics that could influence world energy markets and commodity prices include, but are not limited to, global economic health, supply or demand disruptions or fears thereof caused by civil unrest, global pandemics, military conflicts, actions taken by OPEC Plus and other major oil producing countries, environmental laws, tax regulations, governmental policies and weather-related disruptions. Our strategy is to create value through price cycles by delivering on the financial, operational and ESG priorities that underpin our value proposition.

Our earnings and operating cash flows generally correlate with price levels for crude oil and natural gas, which are subject to factors external to the company and over which we have no control. The following graph depicts the trend in average benchmark prices for WTI crude oil, Brent crude oil and Henry Hub natural gas:

Brent crude oil prices averaged $83.24 per barrel in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 2 percent compared with $81.27 per barrel in the first quarter of 2023. WTI at Cushing crude oil prices averaged $76.96 per barrel in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 1 percent compared with $76.13 per barrel in the first quarter of 2023. Oil prices in the first quarter of 2024 were supported by global oil demand growth, voluntary production cuts by OPEC Plus members and geopolitical risks impacting trade flows.

Henry Hub natural gas prices averaged $2.25 per MMBTU in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of 35 percent compared with $3.44 per MMBTU in the first quarter of 2023. Henry Hub prices decreased due to mild winter weathe

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Information about market risks for the three months ended March 31, 2024 does not differ materially from that discussed under Item 7A in our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure information required to be disclosed in reports we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. At March 31, 2024, with the participation of our management, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) and our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (principal financial officer) carried out an evaluation, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) of the Act, of ConocoPhillips’ disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) of the Act). Based upon that evaluation, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer concluded our disclosure controls and procedures were operating effectively at March 31, 2024.

In the third quarter of 2023, we began a multi-year implementation of an updated global enterprise resource planning system (ERP). As a result, we have made corresponding changes to our business processes and information systems, updating applicable internal controls over financial reporting where necessary. As the phased implementation of the ERP system progresses, we expect to continue to modify or change certain processes and procedures which may result in further changes to our internal controls over financial reporting.

There have been no other changes in our internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Act, in the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II. Other Information

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

ConocoPhillips has elected to use a $1 million threshold for disclosing certain proceedings arising under federal, state or local environmental laws when a governmental authority is a party. ConocoPhillips believes proceedings under this threshold are not material to ConocoPhillips' business and financial condition. Applying this threshold, there are no such proceedings to disclose for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. See Note 9 for information regarding other legal and administrative proceedings.

There have been no material changes from the risk factors disclosed in Item 1A of our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

*There were no repurchases of common stock from company employees in connection with the company's broad-based employee incentive plans.

In late 2016, we initiated our current share repurchase program. As of October 2022, we had announced a total authorization to repurchase up to $45 billion of our common stock. As of March 31, 2024, we had repurchased $30.1 billion of shares. Repurchases are made at management’s discretion, at prevailing prices, subject to market conditions and other factors. Except as limited by applicable legal requirements, repurchases may be increased, decreased or discontinued at any time without prior notice. Shares of stock repurchased under the plan are held as treasury shares. See Part I—Item 1A—Risk Factors – “Our ability to execute our capital return program is subject to certain considerations” in our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Insider Trading Arrangements

During the three-month period ended March 31, 2024, no officer or director of the company adopted or terminated any Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement or non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement.

** Filed herewith.*

**Furnished herewith.

Signature

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.