Marathon Oil deepens spending cuts on oil price rout
(Reuters) - Marathon Oil Corp <MRO.N> on Wednesday cut its capital expenditure for the second time in a month, as crude oil prices hover around $30s per barrel due to a price war among top producers and the coronavirus-fueled hit to demand.
The company follows Devon Energy <DVN.N> and Occidental Petroleum <OXY.N> in again reducing spending, with North American energy producers now cutting nearly $37 billion, or about 30%, from their original capex estimate, according to data compiled by Reuters.
Marathon Oil now expects to spend about $1.3 billion in 2020, $1.1 billion lower than its original forecast and $600 million below its estimate provided in March.
The company plans to suspend further drilling activity in the Northern Delaware region of the Permian basin, the largest U.S. shale basin, with only a limited number of wells producing through the rest of the year.
Marathon had in March suspended all drilling and completion activity in Oklahoma, as well as further exploration and appraisal drilling.
The company also plans to take frac holidays in North Dakota's Bakken and South Texas' Eagle Ford basins during the second quarter.
(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)