COP · Earnings call · 2026Q3T · Full report

Lower 48 Productivity Technology

CONOCOPHILLIPS · 2026-11-05 · Importance 55 · Surprise 66 · In source text

ConocoPhillips said it achieved record third-quarter completion performance in the Lower 48, with pump hours up 15% versus 2025 and simulated footage per day improving 20%. The company is extending lateral lengths, doubling the number of three-mile-or-greater laterals, and using simul-frac and continuous pumping to improve drilling and completion efficiency. Surfactant-treated wells have shown a 20% uplift in oil productivity across roughly a year and a half of data, and the company plans measured additional applications across its portfolio in 2027. It is also scaling far-field diverters in Eagle Ford and ramping deployment in the Bakken to mitigate frac hits.

Key facts

• CONOCOPHILLIPS planned additional surfactant applications or treatments across its portfolio in 2027 at a measured pace, without a large capital increase.
• CONOCOPHILLIPS said far-field diverters in Eagle Ford had greatly mitigated frac hits with child wells and were being scaled across the Eagle Ford program and ramped in the Bakken.
• CONOCOPHILLIPS said it expected continued improvement in drilling and completions efficiencies following a 15% improvement achieved in 2025, driven roughly by continuous pumping and simul-frac.
• CONOCOPHILLIPS reported a 15% improvement in Lower 48 lateral lengths compared with 2025 and was doubling the number of three-mile-or-longer laterals.
• CONOCOPHILLIPS reported a record 20% improvement in simulated footage per day in the third quarter and continued to see it in the fourth quarter.
• CONOCOPHILLIPS said surfactants had delivered a 20% uplift in oil productivity for treated wells, based on about a year and a half of data from several groups of wells.
• CONOCOPHILLIPS’ Lower 48 crews had 15% more pump hours in the third quarter than in 2025, and one crew pumped 23 hours per day in August.

Impact estimates