Earnings per share of $1.82 were short of the Wall Street estimate of $1.97. On a non-adjusted basis, earnings were $3 billion, or $2.09 per share. ConocoPhillips has benefitted, like all oil companies, from rising oil prices and a recent surge in refinery margins as the spread between WTI crude and Brent crude widened. "While our financial results were much improved from a year ago, E&P production and R&M capacity utilization did not meet our targets," said ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva in the earnings release. "The quarter was negatively impacted by approximately $200 million from unplanned downtime and from variable compensation expense related to prior-year performance." ConocoPhillips exploration and production adjusted earnings were higher than the year ago period, but primarily due to higher prices. The issue of replacing lost production has been highlighted as a key issue. All major oil companies have as a No. 1 priority replacing production over the long-term.