Chevron plans $35 billion capex budget for 2015, a 13 percent cut

Reuters

WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - Chevron Corp <CVX.N> said Friday it plans to spend $35 billion this year on oil and gas projects, 13 percent less than in 2014.

The company plans to spend the bulk of that amount - $23.4 billion - on projects outside the United States. Some of the company's largest growth projects are in Australia, Argentina and Kazakhstan.

Investments in shale formations will also be a major focus, Chevron said. The company holds one of the largest acreage positions in the oil-rich Permian shale formation in Texas.

The company has invested heavily in recent years to bring major projects online to meet a production target of 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by 2017.

Chief Executive John Watson said last March that some projects would not be able to compete internally for capital with oil prices <CLc1> below $110 per barrel. Prices currently trade around $45.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Bernadette Baum)