ConocoPhillips announced Tuesday it suffered a loss of $800 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 and $2.7 billion for the entire year.
The four quarter loss amounted to 72 cents a share compared to 2919 fourth quarter earnings of $0.7 billion or $0.65 per share. The company said excluding special items, the fourth-quarter 2020 adjusted earnings were a loss of $0.2 billion or 19 cents a share compared to $08 billion or 76 cents a share in adjusted earnings in the fourth quarter a year earlier.
The firm’s full year 2020 loss of $2.7 billion amounted to $2.51 per share while the full-year 2019 earnings were $7.2 billion or $6.40 a share.
“There was nothing easy about 2020, but the lessons from the year served to strengthen our conviction that ConocoPhillips offers the right value proposition for this volatile business — free cash flow generation, a strong balance sheet, commitment to differential returns of and on capital and ESG leadership,” said Ryan Lance, chairman and chief executive officer.
The report showed the company had $4.8 billion in cash provided by operating activities. It also distributed $1.8 billion in dividends and repurchased $0.9 billion of shares representing a 53% return of CFO to shareholders.
The company ended the year with $3.3 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash plus short-term investments of $3.6 billion.