New ConocoPhillips CEO Andy O'Brien Inherits $7 Billion Free Cash Flow Target Anchored by Alaska Willow Project

Andy O'Brien will succeed longtime ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO Ryan Lance next month, inheriting a multiyear plan to add $7 billion in free cash flow by 2029, a target Lance reaffirmed during the company's second-quarter earnings call. The pledge is underpinned by the Willow oil development in Alaska, with peak capital spending on that project now behind the company, according to O'Brien. Willow is expected to come online early in 2029, at which point ConocoPhillips projects its free cash flow breakeven will fall from the mid-$40s per barrel WTI today to the low $30s.

O'Brien, who previously served as CFO and EVP of strategy and commercial and oversaw ConocoPhillips's Alaskan and international businesses, said delivering major projects and a cost reduction program will be his immediate focus. Konnie Haynes-Welsh, who joined ConocoPhillips in 2012, will become CFO. The transition comes as COP's share price has recently lagged peers, according to analysts and investors.

On the earnings front, second-quarter free cash flow surged 75% over Q1, with record production from the Permian, where output set a company high. Seeking Alpha upgraded ConocoPhillips to Buy following the Q2 results, projecting high-teen compound annual growth through 2029, and noted that Permian natural gas headwinds are expected to ease as new pipelines come online in the second half of 2026. A positive analyst note on COP also circulated from Freedom Broker on August 10.