ConocoPhillips posted an 87.5% surge in third-quarter profit that topped Wall Street expectation on Nov. 3, extending a string of bumper earnings from oil producers benefiting from higher energy prices, and raised its share repurchase plan to $45 billion.
The shale producer's larger U.S. rivals Exxon Mobil and Chevron have also reported strong results, rekindling calls for energy companies to pay more taxes.
ConocoPhillips also raised its quarterly dividend by 11% and approved a $20 billion increase in share repurchase plan despite renewed push by President Joe Biden to invest the gains from higher energy prices in production instead of share buybacks.
The company said its 2022 production outlook remains unchanged, while for the fourth quarter, it expects output to be between 1.74 MMboe/d and 1.80 MMboe/d.
Its total average realized price surged 46% to $83.07/boe from a year earlier and production rose by 210,000 boe/d to 1.75 million barrels boe/d.
The company, however, raised its annual operating capital guidance to $8.1 billion from $7.8 billion, citing inflationary impacts.
"The base dividend increase and buyback program increase will more than offset the slight increase to the FY capex budget," Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. analysts wrote in a note.
The Houston-based company's net income nearly doubled from last year to $4.5 billion, or $3.55 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30.
Excluding items, ConocoPhillips posted a profit of $3.60 per share, beating analysts' average estimate of $3.44, according to Refinitiv data.
The company's shares were up 1.4% at $128.29 in premarket trading.