By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
(Reuters) - U.S. oil producer Apache Corp APA.O said on Thursday it plans to keep project spending next year flat or slightly lower than this year s $1 billion spending rate, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to slash global oil demand.
Oil companies continue cutting spending following pandemic-driven oil price drops. But U.S. service costs have fallen so much that Apache is sending some equipment back to work in the country’s top shale field, even as it continues to pin hopes on its offshore Suriname discovery.
The company is adding two hydraulic fracturing crews in the Permian Basin shale field in Texas to work on wells that have been drilled already but not fracked, but has no plans for a “sustained” drilling program in the field, Chief Executive John Christmann said on a call with analysts. Apache had suspended Permian Basin drilling and fracking in April after oil prices collapsed.