The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting devastation to the world’s oil and gas industry led to a third-quarter 2020 loss of $0.5 billion or 42 cents a share by ConocoPhillips, the company announced Thursday.
The massive loss compared to third-quarter 2019 earnings of $3.1 billion or $2.74 per share.
The company stated Thursday that excluding special items, its third-quarter 2020 adjusted earnings were a loss of $300 million or 31 cents a share while a year earlier, ConocoPhillips had adjusted earnings of $900 million or 82 cents a share.
“As we all know, the year has been historically volatile for our industry,” said Ryan Lance, chairman and chief executive officer. “ConocoPhillips responded with several prudent actions, including economically-driven curtailments, while continuing to run the base business extremely well.
The company’s nine-month 2020 earnings were also a loss totaling $1.9 billion or $1.79 a share while the nine-month 2019 earnings were $6.5 billion or $5.72 a share. The nine-month 2020 adjusted earnings were a loss of $0.8 billion or 78 cents a share. The nine-month 2019 adjusted earnings were $3.2 billion and $2.83 per share.
For the quarter, cash provided by operating activities was $0.87 billion. Excluding a $0.36 billion change in operating working capital, ConocoPhillips generated cash from operations (CFO) of $1.23 billion. The company funded $1.1 billion of capital expenditures and investments, including $0.4 billion for the bolt-on acquisition in the Montney, and paid $0.5 billion in dividends. During the quarter, the company initiated a commercial paper program totaling $0.3 billion.
The company’s total realized price for oil during this period was $31.76 per BOE, compared with $49.35 per BOE in the first nine months of 2019. This 36 percent reduction reflected lower marker prices.
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