ConocoPhillips crew shuttles from Smith I-Ranch to Midland the week of Syria gas deal

ConocoPhillips flew from Smith I-Ranch Airport (14TE) to an airstrip near Midland, Texas, on June 18, 2026, a 44-minute hop in the company’s ERJ-145XR crew shuttle. The aircraft, tail N284CP, is typically used to move personnel between Anchorage and the North Slope oil fields, but this week it touched down in the Permian Basin — the heart of ConocoPhillips’ onshore U.S. operations.

The same week, ConocoPhillips signed a deal with the Syrian Petroleum Company to develop multiple gas fields and boost production from existing sites, per [energyconnects.com](https://www.energyconnects.com/news/gas-lng/2026/june/syria-signs-deal-with-conocophillips-to-revive-natural-gas-production/). The agreement, announced at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, marks the first major entry by a U.S. oil and gas company into postwar Syria. ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance said the deal lays the groundwork for restoring Syria’s natural gas output, which the country lost about 900 million cubic feet per day during the civil war.

This flight follows a pattern of recent ConocoPhillips shuttles between Houston and the Permian Basin — the company’s core production region. The Syria deal adds a new geopolitical exposure to an already global upstream portfolio, and the crew movement suggests active planning for the operational demands of that commitment.