Dec 7 (Reuters) – ConocoPhillips said on Friday its
capital budget next year will be flat at $15.8 billion, with
more than half of the U.S. oil company’s spending directed
toward North American oil and gas projects.
Moderating North American crude oil prices and low gas
prices are prompting many exploration and production companies
to hold the line on spending in 2013 following several years of
robust growth.
Still, shale formations, seen as a less risky, lower-cost
means of producing crude, are still attracting investment from
companies both large and small.
In 2013 about 60 percent of the U.S. oil and gas company’s
capital expenditures be allocated to the company’s properties in
basins like the Eagle Ford in south Texas and the Bakken in
North Dakota that produce more valuable crude oil, Conoco said.
Conoco also said it expects to complete its plan to sell up
to $10 billion in less profitable assets next year.
When the company has finished shedding oil and gas assets it
no longer considers strategic, it will be “on track to deliver
on our long-term annual growth goals of 3 to 5 percent on both
volumes and margins, with a compelling dividend,” Ryan Lance,
Conoco’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Shares of Conoco rose 51 cents, or nearly 1 percent, to
$57.86 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading.
