(Adds detail, comments on M&A)
Sept 24 (Reuters) - U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips
sees global demand returning to 100 million barrels per day and
growing from there, a senior executive said on Thursday.
The view stands in contrast to rival BP Plc, which
sees the coronavirus pandemic leaving a lasting effect on global
energy demand, though ConocoPhillips still expects "quite a bit
of uncertainty next year," Senior Vice President Dominic Macklon
said during a Q&A with Raymond James.
Capital spending in 2021 will be "somewhat below" its
original planned 2020 level of $6.6 billion, Macklon said.
The hardest-hit area of the oil industry in 2020 has been
U.S. shale, where producers cut production and sidelined
equipment as oil prices crashed. While U.S. shale output was
about 8.2 million bpd at the start of the year, that level will
likely fall by 4 million bpd in 2022, Macklon said.
While ConocoPhillips left seven drilling rigs at work in
shale fields, it cut all fracking crews earlier this year as oil
prices crashed. It is returning two fracking
crews to the field, Macklon said.
The company has not had layoffs in 2020 and remains
committed to growing the dividend, Macklon said.
In July it agreed to buy land from Kelt Exploration Ltd in
Canada’s Montney shale oil play, in a $375 million deal. The
140,000 acres in British Columbia are directly adjacent to
ConocoPhillips’ own Montney lands.
When asked whether it would consider a purchase in an area
where it doesn't already operate, Macklon said yes, but the
preference is for assets "we know and understand well."
(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller
Editing by Marguerita Choy and Nick Zieminski)
BP (BP.)
