ConocoPhillips, the largest US exploration and production company, has ruled out investing in projects that need an oil price of $50 or higher to make a profit, as it attempts to raise shareholder returns after years of poor profitability. It is also committing most of its investment for growth to shale oil resources in North America, arguing that operations there are most able to respond to volatile markets. Companies in the US shale oil and gas industry have generally made poor returns on capital and been unable to cover their costs of drilling and completing new wells from their cash flows. But Conoco is one of many exploration and production companies now trying to deliver improved returns for shareholders and live within its means without requiring continual infusions of fresh capital. Ryan Lance, Conoco’s chief executive, said the company was seeking “returns over growth”. “The whole E&P sector, really, has not performed very well, even [through] the commodity price cycles,” he said. “We really want to be a stock that will perform through the cycles.”