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ConocoPhillips announces retirement of CFO after beating first-quarter profit targets

ConocoPhillips surpassed Wall Street expectations for the first-quarter profits on Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Bill Bullock, who has worked at the Texas-based oil producer for 39 years, will retire.

ConocoPhillips has increased its presence in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins and Bakken Basins with the $22.5 billion purchase of Marathon Oil. It also added new operations to the Anadarko Shale Formation and Equatorial Guinea.

ConocoPhillips produced 2.38 million barrels equivalents per day in the first quarter, an increase of 487,000 boepd over the previous quarter.

The increased output helped to offset the effect of low oil prices. The price of crude oil fell through the first quarter after hitting a high of $82 per barrel in January. This was due to fears about future economic growth.

The average total realized price per barrel for the company was $53.34 during the third quarter. This is 6% less than the realized price from a year ago.

CEO Ryan Lance said, however, that the company was confident in its "competitive edge" despite the "volatile macro-environment".

According to LSEG, on an adjusted basis the company reported a net profit of $2.09 for the three-month period ended March 31 compared to the analysts' average estimate $2.06

The company has lowered its forecast for full-year expenditure output and expects that it will be between $12.3 and $12.6 billion, compared to its previous estimate of around $12.9 billion.

ConocoPhillips has announced that Bullock's successor will be Andy O'Brien. The new appointment is effective June 1.

Bullock, a 1986 company employee, was named finance director in 2020.

During his tenure at the company, he completed several major deals, including the sale to Santos Limited of assets in Australia in 2020, Concho Resources' $9.7 billion purchase in 2021 and the latest Marathon Oil acquisition.

(source: Reuters)