Chevron Corporation is reducing its capital and exploratory budget for the next five years by billions of dollars compared to previous guidance as it looks to save its dividend payouts in the post-pandemic world.
The oil giant which operates the Agbami Field, which lies 70 miles (113 km) off the coast of central Niger Delta region and spans 45,000 acres (182 sq km) with 67.3 per cent interest in the field, plans a capital and exploratory budget of $14 billion for 2021 and cuts its annual capital expenditure (capex) guidance for 2022-2025 to between $14 billion and $16 billion, the U.S. oil major said yesterday.
Chevron has interests, ranging from between 20 and 100 percent in three operated and six non-operated deepwater blocks in Nigeria. Chevron’s previous capital guidance for the longer term was between $19 billion and $22 billion, which excluded Noble Energy.
This year alone, after the collapse in oil prices in March, Chevron cut its capital programme by $4 billion, or by 20 per cent, to $16 billion, to protect its dividend and balance sheet in one of the worst oil price routs in recent memory.
In May, Chevron said in its Q1 earnings report that it was further reducing its 2020 capex guidance by up to $2 billion to $14 billion.
