By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – ConocoPhillips stock (NYSE:COP) traded 0.4% lower Thursday after the company’s move to top up its shareholder returns by $1 billion fell short of expectations.
The company now plans to give back $8 billion to shareholders in 2022 through various instruments including repurchases and dividends. This compares with Exxon Mobil 's (NYSE:XOM) ongoing $10 billion share repurchase program and Shell's (NYSE:SHEL) plan to buy back shares worth $8.5 billion within the first half of 2022.
Shell also plans to increase its dividend by 4% in the current quarter to 25 cents per share.
Tensions in the Middle East and between U.S and Russia, reluctance of the OPEC+ to raise output and pandemic-fueled boom in economies have all contributed to push energy prices to record highs. Those prices have boosted cash flows at energy majors and enabled them to return more cash to shareholders, moves investors have welcomed given the world’s mood has mostly turned against firms dependent on fossil fuels.
ConocoPhillips’ fourth-quarter total revenue and other income more than doubled to $16 billion. That allowed the company to swing back to a profit of $2.6 billion against a loss a year earlier. A near doubling of realized price boosted earnings.
The company said its production, excluding Libya, rose to 1.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter, up by 423,000 boe/d from last year. Production from Libya averaged 41,000 boe/d.
Most of the increase in the company's output came from the Permian, Reuters said. The company acquired Shell’s assets in the top U.S. oilfield for $8.7 billion during the quarter.