By Chelsey Dulaney
ConocoPhillips unveiled plans Thursday to further pare its
spending for the year, as the company swung to a loss in its second
quarter amid tumbling commodity prices.
Excluding write-downs and other one-items, per-share earnings
were above expectations for the latest quarter.
ConocoPhillips now expects capital expenditures of $11 billion
this year, down from its previous guidance of $11.5 billion. It
also lowered its operating cost guidance to $8.9 billion from $9.2
billion.
ConocoPhillips was the first big U.S. oil producer to slash its
2015 capital spending to deal with the falling price of crude. In
March, it said it would curb capital spending through 2017 to
reflect expectations that commodities prices will remain
volatile.
The company now plans to cut its deep-water exploration
spending.
ConocoPhillips has been scaling back expenses by the billions
and cutting head count since oil prices began to tumble last year.
Meanwhile, the company has continued to expand production and pay a
dividend.
In the latest quarter, production grew by 4%, excluding Libya
and dispositions.
ConocoPhillips's average realized price plunged to $39.09 a
barrel from $70.17 a barrel a year ago.
Overall, ConocoPhillips reported a loss of $179 million, or 15
cents a share, compared with a profit of $2.08 billion, or $1.67 a
share, a year ago.
Excluding $140 million in impairments, a tax charge and other
items, the company posted a per-share profit of seven cents, down
from $1.61 a share a year ago.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of four
cents a share.
Operating costs fell 11% to $2.16 billion.
Shares were inactive premarket.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at chelsey.dulaney@wsj.com
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