HOUSTON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. petroleum and natural gas developers will continue to put more emphasis on investors' returns or capital discipline in the coming years as the investment cycle matures, said Helen Currie, chief economist with oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips.

"I think we will see more focus on returns or capital discipline in the coming years, typically in the United States and Canada," said Currie Tuesday at a panel discussion on oil markets at the ongoing CERAWeek conference.

All companies could benefit from capital discipline and many companies are operating with a higher degree of capital discipline today, not just promising returns like five years ago, Currie told Xinhua on the sidelines of the conference.

"You are going to see that mindset spread across companies, particularly smaller companies that historically have higher leverage, and investors are starting to receive returns," said Currie.

In fact, Currie noted it's time for some of the companies to deliver returns to investors.

Smaller oil and gas companies in the United States have financed themselves with external borrowing from private equity and other sources of financing, which typically has a time horizon of three to five years.

Under the timeline of those investments, investors are now ready to get their money back and reinvest somewhere else, Currie added.

CERAWeek is an annual energy meeting held by the London-based information company IHS Markit featuring prominent speakers from the energy, technology and financial sectors. This year's event was attended by more than 4,500 guests from over 70 countries and regions.