ConocoPhillips

Welcome to the Q3 2022 ConocoPhillips earnings conference call. My name is Richard and I'll be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. During the question and answer session, if you have a question, please press 01 on your touch-tone phone. I'll now turn the call over to Phil Gresh, Vice President, Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, Richard, and welcome to everyone joining us for our third quarter earnings conference call. On the call today are several members of the ConocoPhillips leadership team, including Ryan Lance, Chairman and CEO, Bill Bullock, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Dominic Macklin, Executive Vice President of Strategy, Sustainability, and Technology, Nick Olds, Executive Vice President of Global Operations, Jack Harper, Executive Vice President of Lower 48, and Tim Leach, Advisor to the CEO. Ryan and Bill will kick off the call with opening remarks, after which the team will be available for your questions. Just a few quick reminders. First, along with today's release, we published supplemental financial materials and a presentation, which you can find on our investor relations website. Second, during this call, we will be making forward-looking statements based on current expectations Actual results may differ due to factors noted in today's release and in our periodic SEC filings. Finally, we will make reference to some non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the nearest corresponding GAAP measure can be found in today's release and on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Ryan.

Thank you, Phil. Before I get into our strong results for the quarter, including record production, I'd I'd like to touch on a few big picture thoughts that are top of mind for us. First, inflation and supply chain constraints continue across the entire economy and our industry. This is particularly true in the U.S. shale, where rapidly escalating costs combined with extremely tight supply are limiting the pace of industry-wide production growth. Second, we believe that the world is going to need investments in medium and long cycle production in addition to U.S. shale plays. The depth and quality of our U.S. unconventional inventory, combined with our diverse global portfolio, has us well positioned to meet these long-term supply challenges. And finally, a successful energy transition must meet society's fundamental need for secure, reliable, and affordable energy while progressing to a lower carbon future. This requires an all-the-above solution. Obstacles that prevent the global market from functioning properly are not going to help the American consumer and would be disastrous for our allies. Governments can help by enacting policies that encourage investments in developing lower-emission walnut gas resources that will be needed to get the world through the transition. This includes fiscal stability, streamlining permitting, and supporting critical infrastructure for an all-the-above solution. Now, against this backdrop, we believe that ConocoPhillips is well positioned to win in any environment. We remain committed to delivering on our triple mandate of responsibly and reliably meeting energy transition pathway demand, delivering competitive returns on and of capital, and progressing towards achieving our net zero operational emissions ambition. As further evidence of this commitment, our third quarter results demonstrated record total company production, Lower 48 production hit a milestone at over 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and we anticipate further growth in the fourth quarter. On returns, we generated a trailing 12-month ROCE of 27%. We increased our ordinary dividend by 11% to $0.51 per share. And we announced a $0.70 per share VROC for the first quarter of 2023, and we increased our share buyback authorization by $20 billion. Additionally, we'll return $15 billion of capital for 2022, which represents over 50% of our projected CFO, well in excess of our greater than 30% annual commitment. Now, we believe that our CFO-based returns framework differentiates us relative to peers. And finally, our net zero operational emissions ambition, we recently announced a new medium-term methane intensity commitment consistent with our recent objectives of joining OGMP 2.0. From a strategic perspective, I wanted to provide an update on our global LNG initiatives. First, we were recently selected to participate in Qatar's Northfield South project. following our selection earlier this year to participate in the North Field East, which adds to our long, positive relationship with Cutter Energy. Second, we agreed to terminal services for a 15-year period at the prospective Brutensbottle LNG import terminal in Germany. And third, we continue to progress our Port Arthur LNG project with SEMPRA, which we expect to reach FID by early next year. Overall, we continue to believe the substitution of natural gas in place of coal represents an opportunity for significant reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions. This should drive global LNG demand and related opportunities well into the future. Putting this all together, We remain constructive on the outlook for the industry, and we have a deep portfolio of short, medium, and longer cycle, low-cost supply assets that generate strong cash flow as we continue to deliver on our triple mandate. Now let me turn the call over to Bill to cover our overall performance for the quarter.