Murphy capex will tick up in ’26 as executives focus on ‘the long game’

The leaders of Murphy Oil Corp., Houston, plan to increase their capital spending by up to $140 million this year from 2025’s level and are increasing their investment in the Gulf of Mexico while also moving into a new offshore basin.

Murphy’s capex last year totaled nearly $1.16 billion. President chief executive officer Eric Hambly and his team expect that figure will climb to $1.2-1.3 billion in 2026. Three-quarters of that total will go toward development in the operator's onshore assets in the Eagle Ford, the Kaybob Duvernay, and Tupper Montney basins, as well as offshore Canada and in the Gulf.

Beyond that, capital will go to projects with a longer-term horizon. That includes the company’s testing work in Côte d’Ivoire—where Murphy teams recently struck out with their first attempt—as well as exploration and appraisal projects in Vietnam as well as expansion in the Gulf. In the last of those, capex will climb 10% to $330 million as Murphy looks to capitalize on the success of its Chinook #8 well.

Morocco and 'the long game'

The coming year also will begin to include some capital being put to work in Morocco, where the Murphy team this month signed a petroleum agreement for a 75% working interest in the Gharb Deep Offshore block that spans more than 4 million acres.

“Our eye is on the long game,” Hambly said on a Jan. 29 conference call in which he noted that his team is willing to pull back on capex if commodity prices stay lower for a longer period. “We’re navigating uncertainty by investing with intention, sharpening our operations and setting up Murphy for sustainable organic growth.”

Hambly said his team expects to spend roughly $5 million at most in Morocco each of the next 3 years. Because the North African country is producing little oil at this point, Murphy’s work will focus on going over existing seismic data and assessing possible drilling plans.

During the last 3 months of 2025, Murphy’s production totaled 181,400 boe/d (87,000 b/d oil), which was down from roughly 200,000 boe/d in the third quarter because teams brought on fewer wells during the period. Executives expect that figure to fall to 164,000-172,000 boe/d in the first quarter, primarily because of falling natural gas production in the Tupper Montney.

For the full year, production is forecasts to tick up from the first quarter to 167,000-175,000 boe/d. Within that figure, the company’s Eagle Ford operations are expected to maintain their output around 37,000 boe/d even though they will receive $285 million in capital, a 25% decrease from 2025.

Murphy produced a fourth-quarter net profit of nearly $12 million on revenues of about $625 million. In late 2024, those figures were $50.3 million and $671 million, respectively. The company’s shares (Ticker: MUR) were up about 1% to $31.76 on the heels of executives’ report and conference call. Over the past 6 months, shares have risen more than 15%, a move that has grown the company’s market capitalization to $4.5 billion.