By Chelsey Dulaney
ConocoPhillips said Thursday that its earnings fell less than
expected in the first quarter, even as the price it got for each
barrel of oil plunged nearly 50%.
Shares edged up 0.7% in premarket trading as the company also
backed its guidance for the year.
ConocoPhillips was the first big U.S. oil producer to slash its
2015 capital spending to deal with the plunging price of crude. In
March, it said it would curb capital spending through 2017 to
reflect expectations that commodities prices will remain
volatile.
ConocoPhillips has said it would cut back on exploring for new
sources of oil and gas, as well as on drilling in some shale
formations in North America, including the Niobrara in
Colorado.
For the first quarter, ConocoPhillips' average realized price
plunged to $36.96 a barrel from $71.21 a barrel a year ago.
Meanwhile, its production level edged up slightly to 1.61 million
barrels of oil equivalent a day, excluding Libya.
Overall, ConocoPhillips reported a profit of $272 million, or 22
cents a share, compared with $2.12 billion, or $1.71 a share, a
year ago.
Excluding a deferred tax benefit, the company posted a per-share
loss of 18 cents, compared with a profit of $1.81 a year ago.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share loss of
19 cents.
Operating costs fell to $2.1 billion from $2.3 billion a year
ago.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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