By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Jan. 25 -- Conoco Inc. plans to spend $2.8 billion on its operations this year, about the same as in 2001.
Officials said 82% of that budget is for upstream operations, especially in North America, the UK, and Southeast Asia. Most of that spending will be for development. Only $500 million is earmarked for exploration, down from 2001's exploration spending of $582 million.
Conoco plans to spend $550 million in the US, including development of Magnolia field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and the Lobo and San Juan onshore natural gas fields. More than $430 million is budgeted for Canadian projects, including oil, natural gas, and oil sands developments in Western Canada.
Conoco will spend nearly $400 million in the UK, mostly on the Caister Murdoch System III development, a cluster of five natural gas discoveries in the southern North Sea (OGJ Online, June 24, 2001). It also plans to develop Clair field.
About $250 million will be invested in Norway and the Netherlands. The company will also spend $500 million on Southeast Asia, including the Indonesian Natuna Sea and Viet Nam's Cuu Long basin.
Downstream spending is set at $500 million, with 40% planned for the US in a special focus on clean fuel projects.
Conoco said higher production and refining volumes in the fourth quarter 2001 were more than offset by significantly lower prices and margins.
As a result, earnings for the quarter dropped 77% to $127 million on revenue of $8.5 billion, down from earnings of $550 million on revenue of $10.4 billion during the same period in 2000.
For 2001 as a whole, Conoco's earnings totaled $1.6 billion on revenue of $39.5 billion, compared with earnings of $1.9 billion on revenue of $39.3 billion the previous year.
