CONOCOPHILLIPS Q1 FY26 earnings call COP

Management opened by acknowledging the ongoing Middle East conflict and its human and market impact^🌐. Andy O'Brien framed the supply picture: for ~2 months roughly 10 million barrels/day of production has been offline (net of redirected Saudi volumes), with inventory and SPR releases only partially backfilling. Global refinery run cuts — including damaged Persian Gulf refineries — total ~8 million barrels/day. With Persian Gulf tankers that left in late February now delivered, management expects inventory draws to accelerate and downgraded its global oil demand view to roughly flat YoY, with downside risk. Ryan Lance said the oil-price 'floor' likely has to rise from the prior ~$65 WTI mid-cycle assumption.

Lower 48 produced 1,453,000 boe/d, +4% YoY underlying, on the deepest, most capital-efficient inventory in the sector. Management raised the capex midpoint ~$250M, concentrated in the Delaware, split between operated and non-operated. Completion efficiencies are outpacing drilling (15% D&C efficiency gains exiting 2025), so one additional Permian rig is being added to avoid frac gaps and hold level-loaded, steady-state operations. On the non-operated (OBO) side, more well ballots from partners are expected to lift second-half spend; management will not 'elect out' of low-cost-of-supply, high-return OBO wells. Lance framed these as 'no-brainers' that set up continued Lower 48 growth into 2027 with little 2026 impact.

Willow reached 50% complete. The winter season delivered the full planned scope despite weather days — all bridges, roads, pads, the airstrip and the entire gravel scope are done, and the east-west pipeline connections back to Alpine will bring fuel gas within a week to fire up Willow power. Gulf Coast process modules are ~50% fabricated, with the module lift to Alaska planned for next summer (2027). Separately, ConocoPhillips completed its largest Alaska winter exploration since 2020 — a successful 4-well program (first of a multiyear campaign) plus seismic and gravel exploration — finding hydrocarbons where prospected. Early oil for Willow remains on track for 2029, a key driver of the $7B FCF inflection.

Management sees a structural tightening of global LNG — a contrarian view even pre-conflict. ConocoPhillips has 10 million tonnes of commercial LNG in place; the first 5 million tonnes (Phase 1) is placed, predominantly to Europe with some to Asia, and conversations on placing the remainder are intensifying. Port Arthur (5 mtpa offtake) targets first LNG in 2027. A third-party tolling agreement at EG LNG (acquired via Marathon) extends that facility's life well into the 2030s at strong utilization, alongside HOAs signed with Equatorial Guinea's Ministry for discovered gas resource. On Qatar, roughly 20% of global LNG (~200 cargoes) has not sailed; QatarEnergy's Ras Laffan had 2 trains struck (~12 MTPA off the market, not ConocoPhillips's), which QE expects to affect the market 3–5 years.

Priorities are steadfast: grow the base dividend competitive with the S&P 500 top quartile, protect the investment-grade balance sheet, return significant CFO to shareholders 'right off the top' (~45% averaged over a decade), then evaluate disciplined reinvestment. The 30% floor is set at a mid-cycle price; because actual prices have generally exceeded mid-cycle, returns have run above the floor, hence the 45% 2026 commitment. On the dividend-vs-buyback debate (Doug Leggate), Lance defended buybacks as dollar-cost-averaged — lower in Q1, more in Q2 — arguing they reduce the long-run dividend burden while keeping the dividend from becoming an outsized share of mid-cycle cash flow.

The cost reduction and margin enhancement program cut full-year opex to $10.2B ($400M below 2025), with the full $1B run-rate savings still expected by year-end; Q1 progress on labor and non-labor lease operating costs ran ahead of plan. On portfolio, the $5B divestiture program is $3B complete with ~$2B to go — 'business as usual' cleanup of non-core assets (including a Permian data room), but management stressed it will not be schedule-driven and won't sell below full value. Management sees no need to sell its Port Arthur Phase 1 equity stake while the asset de-risks toward 2027 first production. In the Montney (~50% liquids, ~1 rig), further aggressive development awaits more West Coast Canada LNG offtake.

About 40% of crude volume is linked to Alaska or international price markers, split roughly evenly; international volumes are mainly dated-Brent linked (trading at a premium to ICE), while A&S prices off ICE Brent — giving heavy Brent leverage. The large Lower 48 component prices off WTI, where realizations were ~98% this quarter, though the WTI-Brent differential blew out to ~$9/bbl. Management flagged a lag of roughly a month or more between when higher prices flow through earnings versus cash, given sales timing in markets like Norway — a complicated set of moving parts this quarter.