Conoco Boasts $40 Per Barrel Breakeven

It may sound a bit strange amid rising oil prices that one of the largest oil companies in the world is boasting it can break even at below US$40 a WTI barrel, but that’s exactly what ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance told CNBC.

"We can sustain our production, pay our dividend, below $40 a barrel. That's part of the transformation that we've been through," Lance said on the Power Lunch, adding that this made Conoco an industry leader in that metric. Last year, CNBC recalls, Conoco offloaded US$16 billion worth of non-core assets to make itself leaner and more resilient to price shocks by improving its business margins, Lance said.

Meanwhile, everyone is still watching the Middle East and Saudi Arabia in particular, but voices are starting to emerge warning that while in the immediate term the geopolitical tensions are positive for oil prices, they will eventually press them down.

One analyst, Roberto Friedlander, head of energy trading at Seaport Global Securities, said he expected that prices could hit US$70 a barrel before sliding down to US$50. CNBC’s regular Dennis Gartman said, "You may get another dollar or two upfront in the front months just because of the confusion. But in the long run, this is terribly detrimental to crude oil prices."

Related: Does The U.S. Lead The World In Carbon Emissions Reduction?

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