Conocophillips profit rises on strong crude prices

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpReuters – U.S. oil producer Conocophillips reported a higher firstquarter profit on Thursday, helped by a surge in crude prices following heavy sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.p

pThe company said it also increased its targeted 2022 returns to shareholders by an additional 25, to a new total of 10 billion.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pCrude prices rallied to a decade high during the reported quarter after the United States and other countries imposed a raft of sanctions against top crude oil exporter Russia, at a time fuel demand is nearing prepandemic levels.p

pBenchmark Brent crude, which broke above the 100 mark in the quarter, was last trading at 110.5 a barrel.p

pRussia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation”. p

pConocos total output for the quarter ended March 31 was 1.75 million barrels of oil equivalent per day boepd, up 220,000 boepd from a year earlierp

pThe company said prices for its oil and gas segment rose nearly 70 to 76.99 per barrel of oil equivalent in the quarter. p

pThe Houstonbased companys adjusted earnings rose to 4.29 billion, or 3.27 per share, from 902 million, or 69 cents per share, a year earlier.p

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pp Reporting by Rithika Krishna in Bengaluru Editing by Rashmi Aich and Shounak Dasguptap

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