BTEGF - Conoco 2022 plans - more capex more shareholder payouts

With $7.2b planned for 2022 capex ($6.5b excluding the Shell Permian acquisition), COP is penciling in a firm 36% increase in capex for the year (22% adjusting for the Permian purchase) However, with capex up 20%+, the Company only expects organic production growth in the low-single digits, reflecting a similar announcement by Baytex (OTCPK:BTEGF) last week, where capital spend is expected to balloon ~30% with production only growing ~3% Both Baytex and Conoco site inflation pressure as a reason for higher capital budgets, with little associated production growth, supporting the thesis that cost curves are shifting higher on shortages and supply-chain bottlenecks With the announcement, COP provides a re-engineered shareholder return plan with 1) base dividend of $2.4b (2.5% of market cap) 2) share buyback of 3.5b (3.7% of market cap) 3) quarter-ahead, variable dividend of 20c/s (1.1% of current market cap, annualized); if sustained, this positions COP shareholders for a

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Conoco 2022 plans - more capex, more shareholder payouts