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CPAI earnings up, production down
ConocoPhillips earned $501 million in Alaska in the third quarter of the year, a 39 percent increase over the third quarter of 2010, because of increased oil prices.
Those prices masked a dubious milestone for the largest producer in the state: for perhaps the first time, its quarterly production fell below 200,000 barrels of liquids per day.
ConocoPhillips produced 199,000 bpd in Alaska in the third quarter, down from 223,000 bpd in the second quarter of the year and 215,000 bpd in the third quarter of last year.
The company cited unplanned downtime for the higher than normal decline.
The longstanding decline in Alaska oil production, though, comes as ConocoPhillips is increasing its presence in Lower 48 shale oil plays, creating the likelihood that the company will soon produce more oil from the Lower 48 than it does in Alaska.
ConocoPhillips produced 174,000 bpd of liquids in the Lower 48 during the third quarter.
Higher Alaska commodity prices However, the company continues to earn more from its operations in Alaska for now, primarily because of commodity prices. The company reported an average sales price of $107.26 per barrel from Alaska liquids, compared to $72.30 per barrel for the Lower 48.
ConocoPhillips produced 56 million cubic feet of natural gas in Alaska in the quarter, down from 62 million cubic feet per day in the second quarter and 82 million in the third quarter of 2010. By comparison, the company produced 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas from its Lower 48 assets, down slightly quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year.
The company reported a realized price of $5.04 per thousand cubic feet for its Alaska natural gas, compared to an average of $4.15 per mcf for its natural gas in the Lower 48.
After selling just 18 million cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas in the second quarter, ConocoPhillips sold 45 million cubic feet per day in the third quarter, the result of an unexpected shipment from the soon-to-be-mothballed export terminal in Nikiski.
Companywide, ConocoPhillips earned $2.6 billion in the third quarter.
—Eric Lidji
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