U.S. shale producer Continental Resources Inc. on Feb. 14 posted a fourth-quarter profit that topped Wall Street expectations, as a recovery in economic activity and travel lifted oil prices to multiyear highs.

Global crude prices jumped over 50% last year, averaging $80/bbl for the last three months of 2021 as demand rebounded from a pandemic-led slump. U.S. crude futures are currently trading close to $95/bbl.

Continental Resources’ fourth-quarter adjusted average net sales price more than doubled to $55.27 per boe from a year earlier.

Read an exclusive Q&A with Continental Resources CEO Bill Berry in the February 2022 issue of Oil and Gas Investor.

Oil and Gas Investor February 2022 cover image

The company, which closed a $3.25 billion acquisition of rival Pioneer Natural Resources Co.’s Delaware Basin assets in the Permian during the quarter, said it targets full-year oil production to average 195,000 to 205,000 bbl/d of oil, after churning out 160,600 bbl/d in 2021.

Natural gas output is expected to be 1.04 to 1.14 Bcf/d in 2022. Continental produced 1.01 Bcf/d of natural gas in 2021.

Shares were down 1.4% to $57.07 in after-hours trading.

The company said it expects to spend $2.3 billion in 2022, which includes a 15% increase to legacy spending in the Bakken and Anadarko basins, as well as a $500 million increase related its Permian acquisition and recent purchase of Chesapeake Energy’s Powder River Basin assets in Wyoming.

Its capital spending totaled $1.56 billion in 2021.

Continental said last week it was raising its quarterly dividend by 15% to 23 cents per share. It will also increase a planned share repurchase program to $1.5 billion from $1 billion.

Adjusted net income for the quarter was $651 million, or $1.79 per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.70 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES. Last year, it reported a loss of $82 million, or 23 cents per share for the fourth quarter.

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