ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas.
The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in the United States (49% of 2019 production), Norway (10% of 2019 production), Canada (5% of 2019 production), Australia (12% of 2019 production), Indonesia (4% of 2019 production), Malaysia (4% of 2019 production), Libya (3% of 2019 production), China (3% of 2019 production), and Qatar (6% of 2019 production). The company's production in the United States included production in Alaska, the Eagle Ford Group, the Permian Basin, the Bakken Formation, the Gulf of Mexico and the Anadarko Basin. Approximately one-third of the company's U.S. production is in Alaska, where it has operations in the Cook Inlet Area, the Alpine oil field off the Colville River, and the Kuparuk oil field and Prudhoe Bay Oil Field on the Alaska North Slope.
As of December 31, 2019, the company had proved reserves of , of which 50% was petroleum, 37% was natural gas, 8% was natural gas liquids and 5% was bitumen.
The company is ranked 156th on the Fortune 500. In the 2023 Forbes Global 2000, ConocoPhillips was ranked as the 83rd-largest public company in the world. ConocoPhillips also ranked 207th on Forbes Best Employers for Diversity (2021), 125th on Forbes America's Best Employers (2021) and 76 on Forbes Canada's Best Employers (2021).
The company was ranked as the 14th most polluting company in the world by The Guardian in 2019. It is responsible for 0.91% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions from 1988 to 2015.
The Conoco Museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and the Phillips Petroleum Company Museum in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, are dedicated to the history of the company.
History
1875 to January 1993
In 1875, the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company" (acronym "Conoco") was founded in Ogden, Utah. In 1885, Conoco was reincorporated as part of Standard Oil. After the Supreme Court of the United States dissolved Standard Oil, Conoco became independent in 1913.
By 1929, it had become a fully integrated oil company. The company was a coal, oil, kerosene, grease and candles distributor in the West.
In 1929, Conoco merged with the Marland Oil Company.
Marland Oil Company, founded by exploration pioneer E. W. Marland, later acquired the assets of Continental Oil Co.. On June 26, 1899, Marland Oil changed its name to Continental Oil Co. and moved its headquarters to Fargo, North Dakota. The acquisition gave Conoco the red bar-and-triangle logo previously used by Marland. Conoco used the logo between 1930 and 1970, when the current red capsule logo was adopted. Conoco was based in Ponca City until 1949, when it moved to Houston, Texas.
1998
In 1998, Conoco acquired an interest in 10.5 blocks in the Kashagan Field in the Caspian Sea off Kazakhstan through the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement (NCSPSA). On November 26, 2012, in its largest acquisition ever, ONGC Videsh agreed to buy ConocoPhillips' 8.4% stake in the Kashagan oilfield for approximately US$5 billion.
2002
On August 30, 2002, Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum Company, whose headquarters were in nearby Bartlesville, Oklahoma merged into ConocoPhillips. By January 2002, the groups organizing the merger had selected Houston as the site of the headquarters. Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating said that the move to Houston was "regrettable".
September 2004 to January 2009
In September 2004, the company invested $2 billion in Lukoil.
In March 2006, ConocoPhillips acquired Wilhelmshavener Raffineriegesellschaft mbH, based in Germany. It also acquired Burlington Resources for $35 billion in cash and stock.
On May 10, 2006, Richard Armitage, former deputy-secretary of the U.S. State Department, was elected to the board of directors of the ConocoPhillips oil company.
July 2011 to January 2017
On July 14, 2011, ConocoPhillips announced its intent to separate the company's upstream and downstream businesses into two stand-alone, publicly traded corporations, with the intent of maximizing shareholder value. On May 1, 2012, all midstream, downstream, marketing and chemical operations were separated into a new company named Phillips 66, headquartered in Houston. As a result, ConocoPhillips continued its operations as an upstream (exploration and production) company.
In April 2012, ConocoPhillips sold its Trainer Refinery to Monroe Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.
In May 2012, ConocoPhillips completed the corporate spin-off of its downstream assets as Phillips 66.