ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Paul Cheng: Hi guys. Good morning. Can I go back €“ Ryan, can I go back into Permian? You guys are talking about earlier in your prepared remarks on the inventory for the 3-mile well. I think the industry also think that the 3-mile may actually work even better. Can you talk about that? I mean based on where you are today, what’s the inventory then on the 3-miles, and whether that there is a lot of opportunity there? You also don’t know whether there is an update you can provide on the petrol, longer term petrol rate that you expect for Permian and that when that you will be able to get there? So, that’s the first question. The second question that I have to say, I was super impressed that your Bakken production is actually flat sequentially from the third quarter given that the winter storm hit and so severely. I mean how about the 27,000 barrels per day, I mean how much is on the Bakken and how you would be able to get it so that you can actually get it flat?

Nick Olds: Alright. Yes. This is Nick there. I will just kind of walk you back through kind of the inventory related to our longer laterals as we have done the core up. Again, over 60% is greater than 2-mile laterals, and that does include the 3-miles as well. So, that’s a significant part of our inventory in the Permian Basin. We have actually, this last year, in 2022, brought on, I think more than 30 wells that are in the 3-mile category and are seeing very encouraging results. So, we will continue to execute those as we are going forward. As we continue to core up and do swaps, that will give us more inventory as well for that longer lateral execution. Again, you will see probably cost of supply of about 30% to 40% reduction as we drill those longer laterals.

Paul Cheng: I am sorry, Dominic, for the 60% you are talking about, how much of €“ what percent of them is actually in the 3-miles category?

Dominic Macklon: Yes. Paul, I don’t have that in front of me at this point in time, but let’s wait until AM and I will give you a further update on that overall 3-mile categorization.

Paul Cheng: Okay.

Dominic Macklon: Okay. On your second part of that first question related to plateau. Again, we will update the group on overall Permian plateau, Eagle Ford and Bakken at the April 12th Investor Day. Obviously, there is a number of factors that go into that. The macro, maintaining execution efficiency, continuing to capture the learning curve and capital efficiency, right now, with our middle €“ mid-single digit growth, we feel that’s right in line with what we have communicated earlier. And then your second question was related to weather. Glad you brought that one up. Again, Bill, you had mentioned 27,000 barrels a day for fourth quarter 2022. Just a quick breakdown on that. That’s 13,000 barrels for Permian, 10,000 barrels for Bakken and then last 4,000 barrels in Eagle Ford.

I think you asked kind of maybe quarter-to-quarter, Q3 to Q4, you are right, it was flat. We are at 96,000 barrels equivalent per day. And Paul, the main driver for that is we had some really strong operated wells that carried into Q4. And then on the operated by others, we had some larger pad projects come online in Q4 that offset that weather.

Phil Gresh: Thanks Paul. Next question.

Operator: Our next question comes from Bob Brackett with Bernstein. Your line is now open.

Bob Brackett: Hey. Good morning. A bit of an old-school question on your reserve replacement. Historically, LNG FIDs were big blocky chunks of gas reserves going into the portfolio, that’s not really going to be the case for a midstream asset like Port Arthur. But I am curious, can you go into a little more detail on the oil/gas mix shift on the reserve replacement, and how to think about the cadence of LNG coming in through that?

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