I joined COP two years ago and was laid off 11/1. I had experience at Shell, BP and with smaller companies, all of whom ran aggressively lean operations. My training for 25 years had been to wear many hats, look for ways to cut cost and impact the return. I walked in the door at COP and no one wanted any part of that. All I heard was "it's already budgeted" or, it's what they want, largely referring to senior leadership of L48. Even up until my last days there, I was proposing cost cutting measures and getting turned down. In one case I made a no-brainer recommendation for re-purposing some equipment to save the company $300K. I got the same responses. Senior leadership would not want re-purposed, albeit almost new equipment because it would not all look the same. I learned some lessons about the culture at COP that are now dragging the company down. As more staff cuts come, people will become more brutal. Survival will mean having to stab someone in the back...it's just a fact. The idea the person posted about surviving lean times making them a stronger family....hogwash. It just made those that remained a bunch of spoiled brats. I was laid off and replaced by my new boss's buddy who had no experience in the field. This is what life will be at COP. My advice, look for another job, and if possible, another industry.
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I've witnessed much worse than the original poster. It's time the board fired Lance, Fox, Hirshberg, and Sheets. They need to bring in some execs who know how to lead a company and can clean out the fat and keep the muscle. Fox drives a culture of micro-management, croneyism, and sloth. It's a good thing it takes 30 people to make a decision because that will keep everyone busy in CDQs while we have no projects to do.
"... of course he has to lie / exagerate"
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that is why we had a negative earnings surprise
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it's also the ConocoPhillips culture
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it's why stock and bond holders are losing confidence
I expect management to give shareholders and bondholders guidance on what they think earnings are going to be next quarter and for the year ... when shareholders don't get this and are presented with a negative earnings surprise they respond very negatively as we saw today. The truely aweful news was the $0.25 earnings miss to -$0.92/share based on $42 oil. It looks like this quarter will be $30 oil.
what do you expect lance to say? ABANDON SHIP! WE ARE DOING TERRIBLE! WE ARE IN TROUBLE! SOUND THE ALARMS!
of course he has to "lie"/exaggerate to keep morale up, just like how the fed will always say the economy is strong until the actual crisis hits.
You lost all credibility when you mentioned BP. They spend money like a drunken sailor.
Politics is in every company - it's the setting up of employees, playing favorites to the extreme and nepotism that killed this company. Even now Lance is not honest with respect to the outlook for this company in 2016. Who honestly believes $45 is a reasonable outllok for the oil price this year. It is the deception behind the words of management to employees and shareholders that is going to punished today in the stock price.
COP Alum here, took my own way out. I'm going to defend the poster - I came from another company and experienced near the exact same thing, albeit with much more resent from the 'rank and file' employees. THe company is in trouble, they've cut off meat/muscle and are left with a pretty low end workforce - most of whom have no idea how to work an independant upstream company. You're going to begin to see the results of a world where inbreding and politics rule, and it won't be pretty.
They are saying 2016 opex will decline from 7.7 to 7.1 billion. Where will that come from? More staff reductions? Opex with additional asset sales? Suppliers have already been wrung out for savings.
7.1 billion opex to produce 1.6 mboe does seem high, doesn't it? Anyone have a benchmark from another upstream company?
-its...Were you born an asshole or did you just work at it?
To @FM-sDcoq-its, unless COP has a change of attitude failure will be the storyline. Most at COP have no concept of how to operate as an Independent Operator including those at the top. It is one thing to talk a good story, but another to implement and act like one. I fully comprehend what the original author stated as I witnessed it at COP. Go ahead and keep your head in the sand and drinking the kool-aide. You may be the next one helped out the door. Note: I EOI'd and retired. Happy I did.
Once again here is another whining victim! Looking at the list of companies that didn't want them either I understand why they were let go 11/1 last year, It is one thing to take the initiative and make positive changes that have positive impact and effect and another to just make suggestions that require someone else's work and initiative. Blowing smoke works for a little while but when times get tough who needs it!
The lack of attention to the bottom line is astounding. Decisions get made based on favourites and favors, even in times like this. On behalf all the other shareholders I am sorry that you couldn't make an impact.