ConocoPhillips’s 1Q17 Crude Oil Price Underperforms WTI

In 1Q17, excluding the effect of hedges, ConocoPhillips’s average realized crude oil price in the Lower 48 region was $45.89 per barrel, up ~70% from its price of $27.04 per barrel in 1Q16. Sequentially, ConocoPhillips’s 1Q17 price is ~4% higher than it was in 4Q16.

In 1Q17, ConocoPhillips’s average realized crude oil price in the Lower 48 region was ~11% lower than the average WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil price of $51.83 per barrel. According to ConocoPhillips’s 10-Q filing, “The differential is driven primarily by local market dynamics in the Gulf Coast and Bakken, and may remain relatively wide in the near term.”

In 1Q17, ConocoPhillips’s Lower 48 average realized price for natural gas rose ~57% to $2.83 per thousand cubic feet, compared with $1.80 per thousand cubic feet in 1Q16. Its average realized price for natural gas liquids rose ~82% to $21.32 per barrel from $11.69 in 1Q16.

In 1Q17, S&P 500 (SPY) upstream companies Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), Marathon Oil (MRO), and Devon Energy (DVN) also reported crude oil prices lower than the average WTI crude oil price. Next, let’s take a look at ConocoPhillips’s realized prices and production costs.