Independent oil & gas company Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) has announced a planned capital spending and exploration budget of $6.8 billion for for 2012. The largest chunk of spending, $2.5 billion, goes to unconventional oil & gas development in three major US shale gas plays — the Bakken shale in North Dakota, the Eagle Ford play in south Texas, and the Utica shale in Ohio. About half the total will be spent in the US.
The company’s CEO said:
We believe that the investments we are making in unconventionals are lower risk and will generate long term profitable growth for shareholders. We expect to fund the majority of our 2012 program from internally generated cash flow and asset sales.
Natural gas prices have fallen well below $3/thousand cubic feet, and look set to stay there for a while. Hess’s development plan has everything to do with the higher priced liquids, and much less to do with low-priced natural gas.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks