Marathon Oil Cuts 2015 Capital Spending About 20%

(RTTNews) - Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) announced that it anticipates its 2015 capital, investment and exploration budget will be approximately $4.3 billion - $4.5 billion, or about 20 percent lower than 2014 levels, excluding its recently disposed Norway business.

The 2015 capital program will reflect a significant weighting to the Company's high return investment opportunities in its U.S. resource plays and lower exploration spending. Assuming this level of investment, total Company annual production growth (excluding Libya) would be in the high single digits in 2015.

"We remain confident in our investment opportunities in the three U.S. resource plays. Our 2015 capital program is not opportunity constrained but will reflect sound discipline in managing cash flows in the current price environment," said Lee Tillman, Marathon Oil president and CEO.

The continuing dynamic change in crude oil markets together with the expected impacts to oilfield service costs warrants additional time before finalizing the 2015 budget. The 2015 capital program will be scalable higher or lower depending on market conditions, the company said.

The company expects to announce details of its 2015 capital, investment and exploration budget together with its fourth quarter earnings release planned for February 2015.