CONOCO BEATS ESTIMATES ON HIGHER PRICES AND OUTPUT

Conocophillips on Tuesday posted a second-quarter profit that nearly doubled from the first, helped by higher oil and gas prices and production. A recovery in fuel demand from a pandemic-forced slump has boosted globally-traded crude prices to over US$70 a barrel, raising earnings. Tim Leach, executive vice-president of Conocophillips’ operations in the lower 48 U.S. states, said he expects activity levels to remain consistent for the rest of the year. Production, excluding Libya, rose four per cent to 1.55 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the second quarter from the first, while prices for its oil and gas rose 10.3 per cent to average US$50.03 per BOE. Adjusted earnings rose to US$1.72 billion, or $1.27 per share, in the second quarter, from US$902 million, or 69 cents per share, in the first.