Chevron slashes investment in 2017

Chevron on Wednesday unveiled a USD 19.8-billion capital and exploratory investment programme for 2017, marking the fourth straight year of lower spending.

The US major’s planned investments for next year are projected to be 15% lower compared with 2016 and represent a 42% drop from 2015 outlays. The 2017 budget will see Chevron direct USD 17.3 billion towards upstream operations, of which USD 1 billion will be earmarked for exploration programmes. The company will allocate USD 2.5 billion to shale and tight gas investment.

“Construction is nearing completion on several major capital projects, which are now online or expected to come online in the next few quarters […] this combination of lower spending and growth in production revenues supports our overall objective of becoming cash balanced in 2017,” Chevron CEO John S. Watson said in a statement.