ConocoPhillips third quarter 2026 earnings explained: segments, adjusted EPS and a dividend increase

ConocoPhillips reported its third quarter 2026 results on November 5, 2026 and filed its quarterly report with the SEC the same day. In the three months ended September 30, 2026 it earned $4,001 million, or $3.34 per diluted share, against $3,931 million, or $3.23, in the second quarter. Leaving out what it calls special items, its adjusted earnings were $3,918 million, or $3.27 per share. This time adjusted earnings were below net income, because the quarter's special items, which the company says primarily reflect the reversal of a tax reserve, added $83 million to earnings. ^[1][2][3]

A year earlier ConocoPhillips earned $1,726 million, or $1.38 per share. The release says earnings and adjusted earnings rose from that quarter primarily due to higher prices, partially offset by lower volumes. This article compares the quarter with the quarter before it and with the same quarter a year earlier. Every figure is sourced and dated, and every number worked out by us is labelled as a Dalsna Finance calculation. A separate Dalsna Finance article covers the second quarter. ^[1][2]

ConocoPhillips in brief

ConocoPhillips explores for, produces, transports and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and natural gas liquids (NGLs) around the world, according to its quarterly report. In the third quarter it was producing in the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Malaysia, Norway and Qatar. It is based in Houston and at September 30, 2026 it employed about 9,600 people and had total assets of $126 billion. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker COP. ^[3][1]

This was the first quarterly report under a new chief executive. On August 6, 2026 the board elected Andy O'Brien, then chief financial officer, as president and chief executive from September 1, 2026, the date on which Ryan Lance was to retire from those roles and become executive chair of the board, according to a filing dated August 11. In the release O'Brien said "ConocoPhillips is continuing to execute our differential strategy, with strong operational and financial performance across the portfolio." ^[4][1]

Five regions and a corporate segment

ConocoPhillips reports its results by region. Lower 48, its operations in the U.S. Lower 48 states plus commercial operations, is by far the largest: as of September 30, 2026 it contributed 69% of consolidated liquids production and 75% of consolidated natural gas production, according to the quarterly report. Its third quarter output of 1,517 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBOED) included 757 MBOED from the Delaware Basin, 197 from the Midland Basin, 369 from the Eagle Ford and 191 from the Bakken, as reported. ^[3][1]

The other regions are much smaller. Alaska, which primarily explores for, produces, moves and sells crude oil, NGLs and natural gas, contributed 11% of consolidated liquids and 1% of consolidated gas. Canada, which includes the Surmont oil sands development in Alberta and the Montney play in British Columbia, contributed 8% and 5%. Europe, Middle East and North Africa, principally Norway, Qatar, Libya, Equatorial Guinea and Syria plus commercial and terminalling work in the U.K., contributed 8% and 18%. Asia Pacific, with operations in China, Malaysia and Australia and commercial operations in China, Singapore and Japan, contributed 3% and 2%. Corporate and Other holds income and costs not directly tied to an operating segment, such as most interest expense and corporate overhead. ^[3]

Production in Qatar stayed constrained. The quarterly report points to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, including the ongoing conflict involving Iran. It says the company's LNG investments in Qatar, one producing asset and two projects under construction, have not been physically damaged and that it has not identified indicators of impairment as of September 30, 2026, but their production remained constrained through the third quarter. Those investments supplied about 4% of total company production in 2025. ^[3]

What each segment earned

Segment earnings are after tax and add up to net income. Against the second quarter, Asia Pacific rose to $528 million from $389 million and Europe, Middle East and North Africa to $362 million from $346 million, while Lower 48 slipped to $2,461 million from $2,584 million, Alaska to $423 million from $522 million and Canada to $179 million from $320 million. Corporate and Other swung to earnings of $48 million from a loss of $230 million. Neither the release nor the quarterly report explains the moves against the second quarter, so we show them without assigning causes. ^[2]

Special items moved some segments. In Corporate and Other they added $124 million after tax in the third quarter, mostly a tax adjustment of $126 million that the release ties to the reversal of a tax reserve, plus a $13 million gain on an interest rate hedge linked to the company's PALNG Phase 1 investment, partly offset by transaction, integration and restructuring costs. Pending claims and settlements cut Lower 48 earnings by $33 million after tax, and transaction, integration and restructuring costs cut Canada's by $8 million. Without special items Lower 48 earned $2,494 million, Canada $187 million and Corporate and Other lost $76 million. ^[2][1]

The numbers, quarter over quarter

Sales and other operating revenues, the company's main revenue line, rose to $19,435 million from $19,161 million. Total revenues and other income, which also counts earnings from equity affiliates, gains on dispositions and other income, came to $20,057 million, with equity in earnings of affiliates up to $448 million from $239 million. Income before income taxes edged down to $5,982 million from $6,082 million, while the income tax provision fell to $1,981 million from $2,151 million, so net income still rose. The effective tax rate was 33.1% against 35.4%, as reported. ^[2]

Adjusted earnings, a non GAAP measure, remove special items. In the third quarter those items raised earnings by a net $83 million after tax, so adjusted earnings of $3,918 million were below net income. In the second quarter they lowered earnings by $20 million. Profit margin, profit divided by revenue, is shown below on both bases. ^[1][2]

Against the third quarter of 2025

The release and the quarterly report explain results against the same quarter a year earlier. Sales and other operating revenues rose $4,404 million, which the quarterly report says included higher realized prices of $3,178 million, partly offset by lower produced volumes of $281 million. On prices the report says "Oil and bitumen prices were higher in the third quarter of 2026 compared with the same period of 2025 as Middle East supply disruptions that began in the first quarter of 2026 persisted through the third quarter." The total average realized price was $61.40 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE), 32% higher than the $46.44 a year earlier, as reported. ^[3][1]

Production fell 97 MBOED from a year earlier, to 2,302 MBOED from 2,399. Adjusted for closed acquisitions and dispositions it fell 40 MBOED, or 2%, and the release says organic growth from Lower 48 was more than offset by the impact of the Middle East conflict on Qatar and higher Surmont royalties. Lower 48 earned $2,461 million against $1,240 million, and the quarterly report says its earnings included $1,822 million of higher sales revenues from higher realized prices. Asia Pacific earned $528 million against $309 million, and the report says its earnings included $153 million more from equity affiliates, primarily due to higher LNG marker prices and higher volumes. ^[1][3]

Taxes took a smaller share. The effective tax rate was 33.1% against 41.0% a year earlier, which the quarterly report puts primarily down to a shift in the mix of income among taxing jurisdictions and the release of unrecognized tax benefits. It recognized a $101 million benefit in the quarter from releasing unrecognized tax benefits after statutes of limitations expired in certain jurisdictions. ^[3]

Earnings per share

Earnings per share, or EPS, is profit divided by the number of shares. The diluted figure also counts shares that could be created from items such as stock options and unvested awards. ConocoPhillips reported diluted EPS of $3.34 for the third quarter and $3.23 for the second. Simply dividing third quarter net income by diluted shares gives $3.35 (Dalsna Finance calculation). The reported figure is lower because the company first takes off $12 million of earnings allocated to participating securities, leaving $3,989 million for common shareholders, according to its quarterly report. ^[2][3]

ConocoPhillips defines adjusted EPS as diluted EPS without special items. It reported $3.27 for the third quarter and $3.24 for the second. Our simple divisions of adjusted earnings by diluted shares come out a cent higher in each quarter, so the reported figures are the ones charted. The diluted share count fell to 1,195.9 million from 1,214.3 million. In the quarter the company repurchased $2,401 million of stock. ^[1][5][2]

Production and prices

Production is measured in MBOED, which counts gas and NGLs alongside oil on one scale. Total production averaged 2,302 MBOED in the third quarter, against 2,248 MBOED in the second, and Lower 48 rose to 1,517 MBOED from 1,479 MBOED. In August the company had guided to third quarter production of 2.29 million to 2.32 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (company projection, as reported), and the quarter landed inside that range. Natural gas from equity affiliates, a group that includes the Qatar LNG ventures, rose to 1,009 million cubic feet a day from 865, as reported, while the quarterly report says Qatar production remained constrained. ^[1][5][2][3]

Prices moved in different directions. The total average realized price slipped to $61.40 per BOE from $62.33. WTI crude averaged $85.79 a barrel against $92.79 in the second quarter, and the company's realized crude price fell to $88.80 from $99.40. Henry Hub gas was little changed at $2.96 per million British thermal units against $2.90, while the company's realized gas price, which includes equity affiliates, rose to $5.70 per thousand cubic feet from $2.58. Neither the release nor the quarterly report explains these moves against the second quarter. ^[2][1]

Cash, buybacks and debt

Net cash provided by operating activities was $7,195 million in the third quarter, against $7,434 million in the second. ConocoPhillips also reports cash from operations, a non GAAP measure that leaves out changes in working capital, the cash tied up in items such as receivables and payables: $7,172 million. Capital expenditures and investments were $3,133 million, and the company received $1.6 billion of proceeds from selling noncore assets, as reported. ^[1][2]

The company says it returned $3.4 billion to shareholders in the quarter, $2.4 billion through share repurchases and $1.0 billion through the ordinary dividend, and that it is on track to return 45% of cash from operations in 2026 (company target, as reported). Its cash flow statement shows $2,401 million paid to repurchase common stock, against $2,000 million in the second quarter. As of September 30, 2026 it had repurchased $44.7 billion of stock since 2016 under a program capped at $65 billion, including 45.6 million shares for $5.4 billion in the first nine months of 2026, according to the quarterly report. Common shares outstanding fell to 1,182.3 million at September 30 from 1,201.3 million at June 30. ^[1][2][3]

It ended the quarter with cash and short term investments of $10.4 billion and long term investments of $1.1 billion, as reported. Short term and long term debt together came to $23,262 million, little changed from $23,290 million at June 30 (Dalsna Finance calculation for the sums). ConocoPhillips raised its quarterly ordinary dividend by 11% to $0.93 per share from $0.84, starting with the fourth quarter dividend payable on December 1, 2026 to stockholders of record on November 16. ^[1][2][3]

The last four quarters

Over the four quarters to September 30, 2026 net income added up to $11,557 million and adjusted earnings to $11,456 million (Dalsna Finance calculation for the sums). All four quarters are taken from the third quarter 2026 supplemental data, as the company reported them, and the three 2026 quarters add up to its nine month totals of $10,115 million and $10,193 million. Adjusted earnings were below net income in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the third quarter of 2026, and above it in the other two quarters. ^[2]

What the market values ConocoPhillips at

Market capitalization, or market cap, is what the stock market values the whole company at: the share price times the number of shares. ConocoPhillips shares closed at $136.27 on Friday, November 6, 2026, as reported by StockAnalysis. The cover of its third quarter report to the SEC lists 1,182,335,057 shares of common stock outstanding at September 30, 2026, the only share count the cover gives. That gives a market cap of about $161.12 billion (Dalsna Finance calculation). Every multiple and share price below uses this one share count. ^[6][3]

The price is from November 6, 2026 while the earnings stop at September 30, 2026, so the multiples below set that day's price against reported results, not against results still to come. ^[6][2]

Six valuation multiples

The price to earnings ratio, or P/E, is market cap divided by a year of earnings. It shows how many dollars the market is paying for each dollar of yearly profit. Annualised means one quarter multiplied by four, so it assumes the third quarter's conditions lasted a full year. Third quarter net income of $4,001 million times 4 is $16,004 million, which gives an annualised P/E of 10.1. The adjusted P/E uses adjusted earnings instead: $3,918 million times 4 is $15,672 million, which gives 10.3 (Dalsna Finance calculation). ^[2][6][3]

A trailing P/E, sometimes called a historical P/E, uses the last four reported quarters. On the $11,557 million of net income in the table above it is 13.9, and on the $11,456 million of adjusted earnings it is 14.1 (Dalsna Finance calculation). The trailing figures are higher because the four quarter totals are smaller than four times the latest quarter. ^[2][6][3]

A forward P/E uses an estimate of future earnings. ConocoPhillips guides on production, capital and operating costs but gives no earnings guidance in its release, and we did not use an analyst consensus we could not check against a dated original. So the two forward P/E values are not calculated. ^[1]

Two base cases: the third quarter held flat for a year

Suppose sales and other operating revenues stayed at the third quarter's level for a full year, with no growth and no decline: $19,435 million times 4, or $77,740 million. At the third quarter's net margin of 20.6% that gives $16,004 million of net income, or $13.54 per share on the cover share count. At the 20.2% adjusted margin, which leaves out the tax reserve reversal as the company's adjusted figure does, it gives $15,672 million, or $13.26 per share (Dalsna Finance calculation). ^[2][3][1]

Both cases are simply the latest quarter annualised, so at the matching annualised P/E each returns the November 6, 2026 close of $136.27 by construction. The other cells only show how the price moves when the same earnings are given a different multiple. Each kind of earnings meets its own kind of multiple. The arithmetic also holds prices fixed at third quarter levels, such as the realized price of $61.40 per BOE. ^[2][6]

There is no separate operating margin case, because ConocoPhillips reports no income from operations line to build it on. The adjusted case leaves out the $126 million tax adjustment, after tax, that the company quantified as a special item. ^[2][1]

The adjusted base case in a chart

What management said

ConocoPhillips gives no revenue or earnings outlook in its release, and we found no revenue figure from management in a dated public source that could be used as a scenario, so this article has no management revenue scenarios. In the release O'Brien said the company remains on track for what it calls a $7 billion free cash flow inflection by 2029, and that 2029 is not the endpoint. This is our paraphrase of his words. It is the company's own view, and the 2029 figure is a company projection. ^[1]

Recent deals and projects

In the third quarter the company sold its interests in certain noncore Lower 48 assets for net proceeds of about $1.7 billion, which did not result in a material gain or loss, according to the quarterly report. Those assets produced about 24 MBOED in 2025, and with its 2025 sales the company says it reached its $5 billion disposition target. ^[3]

Its agreement to buy a 42% stake from a bp subsidiary in a joint venture it will not operate, which is redeveloping four large producing oil fields in the Kirkuk area of northern Iraq, is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions (company expectation, as reported). The purchase price is $0.4 billion before closing adjustments, including $0.2 billion of deferred payments due no later than three years after closing. In October 2026 the company told employees, partners and regulators that it is evaluating a potential sale of its Norway business and its Teesside asset after receiving an unsolicited offer. The quarterly report says it will keep the assets if it does not receive an offer that meets its expectations for value, and that they supplied about 5% of total company production in 2025. ^[3]

On projects, the release says module fabrication for its Willow project is over 75% complete and that Willow is on track for first oil in early 2029 (company projection, as reported). First production from a new well pad at Surmont in Canada came in September, ahead of schedule, according to the quarterly report. The quarterly report says a new commercial LNG agreement in the quarter raised the company's commercial offtake to 13.2 million tonnes a year from 12.2 million. ^[1][3]

What to watch

The company expects fourth quarter 2026 production of 2.32 million to 2.36 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and left its full year capital expenditure and adjusted operating cost guidance unchanged (company projection, as reported). The fourth quarter report will show whether production landed in that range and whether output from the Qatar investments is still constrained. It may also say whether the Kirkuk purchase closed and what the company decided about the offer for its Norway business. ^[1][3]

How these figures were made: inputs come from ConocoPhillips' third quarter 2026 earnings release, supplemental data and quarterly report, its second quarter 2026 release and its August 11, 2026 filing on SEC EDGAR. The share price is the dated close named above. Calculations use the figures as filed and are rounded only at the end, with percentages and multiples to one decimal and per share figures and prices to the cent. ^{[1][2][3][5][4][6]}