ConocoPhillips Co. (NYSE: COP) slashed its 2017 capital spending by 4% on July 27, the latest U.S. oil and natural gas producer to do so in reaction to depressed crude prices.
ConocoPhillips and peers had mapped out ambitious capital spending programs for 2017 early in the year, expecting oil prices to be higher than where they are today, just under $50 per barrel.
But ConocoPhillips becomes the latest this week to cut its spending plans, after Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) and others.
"This is the right approach for value creation in the upstream sector, especially at a time of uncertainty in the commodity markets," ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said in a statement.
ConocoPhillips now plans to spend $4.8 billion this year, down from a prior estimate of $5 billion. The cut came after the company's quarterly loss more than tripled despite recent asset sales.
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Shares of the Houston-based company rose 0.2% to $43.79 in premarket trading.
ConocoPhillips posted a net loss of $3.4 billion, or $2.78 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.1 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned 14 cents per share. By that measure, analysts expected a loss of 2 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Production fell 8% to 1.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
ConocoPhillips sold its assets in the Barnett Shale of Texas last month for about $305 million, part of a plan to shed its exposure to natural gas.
The company also sold its Canadian oil sands and natural gas assets in March to Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVE), in a cash-and-stock deal with about $13.3 billion. The price was widely seen as high, a boon for ConocoPhillips.
ConocoPhillips is the latest international oil major to pull back from northern Alberta's oil sands, which is among the most costly locations in the world to develop.
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