Anadarko Petroleum To Materially Lower Capital Spending In 2016 - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) said the company anticipates recommending to its Board an initial 2016 budget of approximately $2.8 billion, which would be nearly 50 percent lower than actual 2015 capital investments and almost 70 percent lower than 2014.

Anadarko Chairman, President and CEO Al Walker, said: "As we consider capital allocation for 2016, greater market dislocation appears likely, and the need to again materially lower our capital spending, while continuing to pursue value creation and preservation, is our best course of action. On March 1, we will host an investor conference call and look forward to going into greater detail at that time about our definitive 2016 capital plans and expectations."

In 2015, the company reduced year-over-year spending by more than $3 billion, down nearly 40 percent from the previous year, with the largest portion of this reduction coming from short-cycle opportunities.

"We dramatically improved efficiencies and reduced controllable spending by approximately $500 million, while enhancing our base production, and delivering an incremental 25,000 barrels per day of higher-margin oil sales volumes. In addition, we closed $2 billion of monetizations, significantly in excess of our initial expectations," Walker said.

Anadarko's full-year sales volumes of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids totaled 305 million barrels of oil equivalent, or an average of 836,000 BOE per day. Fourth-quarter 2015 sales volumes of crude oil, natural gas and NGLs averaged approximately 779,000 BOE per day.

Anadarko Petroleum reported fourth-quarter results, reporting a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $1.250 billion, or $2.45 per share. The company noted that the results include certain items typically excluded by the investment community in published estimates. In total, these items increased the net loss by $954 million, or $1.88 per share, on an after-tax basis.