Crescent Point Energy reducing capital budget by 28% for 2015
by The Canadian Press
Company plans $1.45-billion capital budget for 2015 as it waits for recovery in oil and gas prices following downturn
CALGARY—Crescent Point Energy Corp. plans a $1.45-billion capital budget for 2015, a 28 per cent decline from last year, as it waits for a recovery in oil and gas prices following the current downturn.
It’s the the latest in a series of energy producers and oilfield services companies to reduce spending plans amid a recent plunge in the price of crude oil, which is at more than five-year low.
A North American benchmark crude future is currently worth less than US$50 a barrel, down from a 2014 high of about US$107 last summer.
The company said it expects to increase capital spending when oil prices rebound.
Despite planning to spend less next year, Calgary-based Crescent Point expects to increase average daily production to the equivalent of 152,500 barrels per day.
Crescent Point said its 2015 budget assumes a reduction of service costs, initially by 10 per cent and even more if the low oil price persists.
The company also said about half of its oil and gas production has been hedged, with contracted crude prices averaging above C$90 a barrel of oil and C$3.60 per gigajoule of natural gas.
Crescent Point’s monthly dividend of 23 cents per share was unchanged.
The company said approximately $1.27 billion, or 88 per cent, of the 2015 capital expenditures budget is expected to be allocated to drilling and completing wells.
The remaining $180 million will be allocated to investments in infrastructure, undeveloped land and seismic across all core areas.
About 91 per cent of the budget is allocated to Crescent Point’s core areas in southern Saskatechewan and central and southern Alberta.
The remaining $135 million will be spent on other properties in Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Manitoba.
