02 August 2013, News Wires – ConocoPhillips has upped its full-year production forecast after putting in a strong quarter, largely on the back of booming US onshore flows.
A sharp rise in Eagle Ford shale production as well as growth in other onshore US plays boosted the company’s coffers.
Net profit for the three months to the end of June was $2.1 billion as against $2.3 billion in the comparable period a year ago. However, last year’s figure included $500 million from downstream operations which have since been spun off into Phillips 66.
Taking out special items, profit went from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion.
Production surged from 1.49 million barrels of oil equivalent per day to 1.52 million boepd. The Eagle Ford was the stand-out performer, production there soaring 98% to 121,000 boepd.
In fact, between the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Permian plays, production shot up 27%. In the lower 48 states and Latin America production was up 50,000 boepd to 491,000 boepd.
Canadian, Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern production were all up but flows were down in Europe and Alaska.
The third quarter is set to see some production outages due to planned downtime and project turnarounds but the oil giant has raised its full-year production guidance to between 1.515 million boepd and 1.53 million boepd.
Chief executive Ryan Lance said: “Production exceeded expectations as growth continued from our development programs, notably in the Eagle Ford where production nearly doubled compared with a year ago.
“Our major projects are progressing as planned, with Christina Lake Phase E first production in July and startups expected at Jasmine, Ekofisk South, SNP and the Gumusut FPS before year end.
“Our exploration momentum also continues, with drilling activity ongoing in deepwater, conventional and unconventional plays around the world.”
– Upstream