ConocoPhillips to sell Anadarko assets for $1.3 billion; profit beats estimates

ConocoPhillips will sell its Anadarko Basin assets for $1.3 billion, the energy producer said on Thursday, after beating Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit.

The asset sale, expected to close at the beginning of the fourth quarter, pushes ConocoPhillips past its $2 billion non-core asset disposition target ahead of schedule.

The company raised its asset-sale goal to $5 billion by 2026, with an aim to unlock $1 billion in cost and margin gains.

In April, Reuters reported ConocoPhillips was exploring the sale of Oklahoma assets gained through its $22.5 billion takeover of Marathon Oil, which expanded its presence in key U.S. basins and added operations in Equatorial Guinea.

The Marathon deal helped lift the company's second-quarter production to 2.39 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up 446,000 boepd from a year earlier.

Shares of the company rose 2% in premarket trading.

Third-quarter production is expected to be 2.33 million to 2.37 million boepd, the company said in a statement.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Scott Hanold called ConocoPhillips' results "strong," citing higher output, lower costs and a more than $1 billion cost-cutting plan.

He expects the stock to outperform as the update eases cash flow concerns.

The production growth helped ConocoPhillips cushion the impact of lower crude prices.

Brent crude averaged nearly 20% lower in the second quarter from a year earlier, as U.S. import tariffs, weak global economic signals and higher output from OPEC+ weighed on prices.

Geopolitical tensions also pressured sentiment. Prices briefly rose above $80 per barrel in June after Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites, but eased to around $67 by the end of the quarter amid demand concerns and fading risk premiums.

The company's total average realized prices stood at $45.77 per barrel oil equivalent, 19% lower than a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, ConocoPhillips reported a profit of $1.42 per share for the April-June quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $1.38, according to data compiled by LSEG.