Hess Lowers 2013 Capex by 18 Pct (USA)

Hess Corporation announced today a 2013 capital and exploratory budget of $6.8 billion, which is down 18 percent from 2012 expenditures of approximately $8.3 billion.

Of the $6.7 billion budgeted for Exploration and Production, $2.7 billion (40 percent) is dedicated to unconventional shale resources and the remainder is focused on conventional resources, with $1.85 billion (28 percent) for production, $1.6 billion (24 percent) for developments and $550 million (8 percent) for exploration. As in recent years, $100 million is dedicated to Marketing and Refining and Corporate.

John Hess, Chairman and CEO, commented, “Our Corporation’s capital and exploratory budget for 2013 is focused on attractive investment opportunities and consistent with our plan, announced in July 2012, to significantly reduce overall expenditures in 2013.”

Greg Hill, President of Worldwide Exploration and Production, stated, “Our expenditures in the Bakken are planned to be $2.2 billion in 2013 versus approximately $3.1 billion in 2012. This reduced level of spend is driven by lower well costs associated with our transition to pad drilling from hold by production mode and decreased investments in infrastructure projects. In addition, we plan to increase our expenditures in the emerging Utica shale play to $400 million from $300 million last year.”

“In 2013, our production budget includes infill drilling programs at Block G in Equatorial Guinea and the Valhall Field in Norway. Key development projects include Tubular Bells in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and the North Malay Basin project in Malaysia. Our exploration program includes wells in Ghana and Kurdistan.”

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Press Release, January 9, 2013