Conoco Phillips' 2Q profit plummets 76%

HOUSTON, July 29 (Xinhua) – Conoco Phillips, the third largest U.S. oil company, said Wednesday its second-quarter profit tumbled 76 percent as a result of lower commodity prices and margins.

Net income of the company was 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, or 87 cents a share, versus 5.44 billion dollars, or 3.5 dollars per share, a year ago, the Houston-based company said in a statement. Analysts on average had expected earnings of 85 cents a share, according to the Thomson Reuters survey.

Second-quarter revenue fell by about 50 percent to 35.4 billion dollars, from 71.4 billion dollars in the year-ago quarter, the company said. Analysts had expected revenue of 39.1 billion dollars.

Conoco Phillips is first among the three biggest U.S. oil companies to report second-quarter results. Exxon Mobil and Chevron will report their earnings in the following days.