Noble Energy cutting capital spending by 40 percent in 2015

GREELEY – Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) said it would cut its capital budget to $2.9 billion this year, down 40 percent from the Houston-based company’s more than $4 billion capital budget last year.

Noble Energy, among the top oil and natural-gas producers in Weld County, said it will split its U.S. onshore capital spending of $1.8 billion “relatively evenly” between the Denver-Julesburg Basin, which includes territory in Northern Colorado, and the Marcellus shale in the East.

Companies such as Noble Energy have responded to lower oil prices by slashing their capital budgets.

Noble Energy planned to spend $2 billion in the D.J. Basin last year, so an even split would put spending levels in Northern Colorado at $900 million, a decline of 55 percent. The company has four drilling rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the region.

Noble Energy’s announcement on its capital budget reduction comes as the company earned $402 million during the fourth quarter, up from $134 million the same period a year earlier. The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $1.07 billion, down from $1.3 billion the same quarter a year earlier.

Noble Energy earned $1.2 billion in 2014, up from $978 million in 2013. The company posted $5.1 billion in revenue in 2014, up from $5 billion the year before.

Company shares fell more than 3 percent to $49.07 in afternoon trading.

Noble Energy CEO David Stover said the capital budget reduction comes amid a “highly uncertain commodity environment.” However, Noble Energy projects 2015 sales volume growth of 5 percent to between 295,000 and 315,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

“Our high-quality and diverse portfolio positions us to extend growth into 2016 at even lower capital levels than this year,” he said in an earnings statement.

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