Barclays says E&P spending to rise 6 pct this year

Reuters ^ | 6-18-2014

[Citizen Zed]

Oil and gas companies will increase exploration and production (E&P) spending by 6 percent to $712 billion this year, despite a slight pullback in spending by industry majors, Barclays said.

Spending by major oil companies is expected to remain flat this year, Barclays said in a report on Wednesday. The bank earlier said it had expected spending to rise by nearly 3 percent.

The big oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc, are under pressure from investors to keep a tight lid on spending after years of record spending on major projects.

  Barclays said it expected smaller, independent oil and gas companies to drive spending growth in North America, where capital budgets were expected to rise 8.4 percent this year, higher than the 7.3 percent it forecast earlier.

[Citizen Zed]

Unless something unpredictable happens.

[Mase]

Barclay's is predicting a 30%+ decline the value of deep water drilling companies due to a dramatic drop in day rates, because of a large pull back in capex spending by the major oil companies, while now saying spending is actually going to increase. What a worthless company. I guess I'll just continue holding my investments in SDRL, ORIG, ATW, ESV and NE.