Chevron Corp. (CVX) intends to spend $39.8 billion on capital and
exploratory investments next year, about $2 billion less than is expected for
2013, which was a relative peak year for such spending.
The initial 2014 amount is higher than what Chevron had expected to spend in
2013 at the beginning of the year, before the company ended up spending about
$4 billion for major resource acquisitions that weren't originally planned.
The company expects 2014 will represent a peak year for spending at the company's
Australian liquefied natural gas projects, as Chevron moves them closer to
begin production.
A bulk of the new spending program is budgeted for upstream crude oil and
natural gas exploration and product projects, with much of that spending going
to international markets. Only 8% of spending is planned for downstream
businesses that manufacture, transport and sell gasoline and other fuel
products.
Notable major capital investments include developments in
Australia
,
Nigeria
, the
U.S.
deepwater
Gulf of Mexico
and the
Permian
Basin
in
the U.S. Chevron is expected to increase activity in several
North
America
regions, as well as in
Thailand
and
Indonesia
.
Separately, the oil and gas producer said Jon M. Huntsman Jr., a former
candidate for the Republican nomination for
U.S.
president during the 2012 campaign, has been named to the company's board of
directors. Mr. Huntsman, who previously served as an executive at his
family-owned Huntsman Corp. (HUN), will join Chevron's board next month.