ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Doug Leggate: That’s really helpful, Bill. And you’re exactly right. We were not expecting half. But of course, that means that the other half is probably more ratable, I’m guessing, over time, but that’s really helpful. My follow-up is a favorite topic of me, Bill. I hate to get in the weeds here, but again, another sizable deferred tax credit this quarter, although it does kind of look a little bit more like your €“ almost like you’re moving to a new normal based on your U.S. spending, thinking IDCs and things of that nature. Can you move just €“ am I thinking about that right? Should we be expecting a ratable deferred tax credit going forward in your cash flow? And I’ll leave it there. Thank you.

Bill Bullock: Well, yes. So deferred taxes were a source of $0.5 billion in the fourth quarter, Doug, and we had a source of about $700 million in the third quarter. Now the source of those deferred taxes is primarily due to the impact of intangible drilling costs and generating deferred tax liabilities now that we’re in a U.S. cash tax paying position. Now as we look at 2023 at current investment levels, we’d expect deferred taxes are going to continue to generate a source of cash on a normalized basis. But I’d expect the deferred tax source full year to be lower in 2022. Now we are in a U.S. cash tax paying position for the full year, but we also utilized all significant U.S. net operating losses, NOLs and EOR credit carryforwards in 2022. And that utilization generated a larger source of cash last year compared to what we’re going to be seeing in 2023.

Doug Leggate: Really helpful. Thank you. Thanks.

Phil Gresh: Michelle, next question.

Operator: Our next question comes from Steve Richardson with Evercore. Your line is now open.

Steve Richardson: Thank you. Ryan, there is been a lot of focus on the Permian Basin of late, certainly from an industry perspective, and not all of it has been good, we’d say. And I’d love if you just took a moment and help us differentiate Conoco’s assets in the basin, what you’re seeing from your asset. And certainly, some of the performance speaks for itself, but I’d love if you could address that today.

Ryan Lance: Yes. Thanks, Steve. Let me make a couple of comments, and then I’ll turn it over to Nick for maybe a couple of his thoughts in a bit more detail. We’re not worried about our long-term development plans in the Lower 48. We see durability to our plans. And I know there is been a bit of noise about productivity and length and durability. And we’ve been there for a long time. We know what we’re doing after the acquisitions that we made over the last 1.5 years. And I don’t have any concerns about the durability to length, the efficiency of our program. And maybe I’ll let Nick provide a few more detail and color on that comment.

Nick Olds: Yes, good morning, Steve. So I’ll give a little more color on that one. Let me start with just the well performance that we’re seeing versus the tight curves. So if you look at our 2022 development wells, they have been performing slightly above the curve expectations across all four basins, including the Permian Basin. And that strong performance reinforces and validates the development plans that Ryan just mentioned, which is our focus on maximizing returns and recovery while minimizing the future interference. So if we step back in time, we’ve been incorporating a lot of the learning curve from our developments over the past 3 to 4 years. In fact, when you look at our accelerated learning curve, we’ve drilled the most horizontal wells in the Delaware and Midland Basin, more than any other company.

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