USA: Marathon Oil Sets 2012 Capital Budget at USD 4.822 Billion

Marathon Oil Corporation announced today a $4.822 billion capital, investment and exploration budget for 2012, approximately 65 percent of which is targeted to the Company’s liquids-rich, growth assets.

“Our 2012 capital budget of $4.8 billion highlights our continued focus on the liquids-rich U.S. resource plays that will provide the greatest amount of the Company’s projected 5 to 7 percent compound average production growth from 2010 to 2016,” said Clarence P. Cazalot Jr., Marathon Oil’s chairman, president and CEO. “Approximately two-thirds of our 2012 capital spending next year is allocated to our growth assets, and nearly half of that amount is designated to substantially ramping up our operations in the Eagle Ford shale. A large portion of our planned spending on these growth assets will also allow us to build on our substantial positions in the Bakken and Anadarko Woodford shale plays and continue to establish our business in the emerging Niobrara shale play of the DJ Basin.

“We plan to spend approximately one-quarter of our 2012 budget on our strong set of base assets in North America, Africa and Europe. These large, stable assets are an integral part of our global portfolio and provide the solid cash foundation for investing in our future growth.

“Additionally, our exploration prospects in the Gulf of Mexico, Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Poland provide further upside potential and drive value beyond our projected production growth in the coming years,” Cazalot said.

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LNG World News Staff, December 7, 2011