Apache Corporation said today it was switching its focus from cost cutting to growth after a “very successful” 2016.
The Houston-headquartered firm’s 2017 capital budget is $3.1billion, up more than 60% year-on-year.
Apache said it would invest $900million in its operations in Egypt and the North Sea, with a primary focus on “low risk development” and “step-out exploration opportunities”.
The firm also said its had made progress on a tie-back at the North Sea Callater well, which is expected to come onstream in the third quarter of 2017.
The field lies about 210 miles north-east of Aberdeen – within the Beryl area – and is thought to have net reserves of between 25million and 50million barrels of oil equivalent.
Apache, which also has operations in Canada and the US, said production would decline in the first half of 2017 due to its annual maintenance turnaround in the North Sea.
The business said the turnaround would take place in the second quarter to help get facilities ready for production from Callater.
Output should climb steadily once Callater goes live.
Group production for 2016 went down 4% to 522,000 barrels a day, while North Sea output dipped slightly to 68,292 per day.
The company notched up revenues of $5.35billion in 2016, down 22% compared with the previous year.
It suffered pre-tax losses of $1.68billion, an improvement on a deficit of $12.17billion in 2015.
Apache chief executive John Christmann said: “2016 was a very successful year and an important step in Apache’s transformation.
“We protected our balance sheet in a volatile price environment, remained focused on costs, and allocated our capital to high-return projects and strategic testing opportunities.
“After two years of dramatic reductions to our capital program, our strategic objective has shifted in 2017 to delivering returns-focused growth.”
Apache said in November it was offloading both its 30.28% share in the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation (Sage) system and a 60.56% interest in the Beryl pipeline to Ancala Midstream Acquisitions (AMA).
In January it awarded a contract to Aberdeen energy engineering consultancy Xodus Group to drill two new wells on the Nevis and Skene fields in the Northern North Sea.
Apache entered the North Sea after acquiring the Forties field from BP in 2003.
It acquired the Beryl, Ness, Nevis, Nevis South, Skene and Buckland fields from ExxonMobil in early 2012.
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