Houston-based Marathon Oil posted a small $28 million loss for the fourth quarter relative to its much larger $1.4 billion loss for the final three months of 2016.
Marathon is increasingly focused on U.S. shale plays, including Texas’ Eagle Ford shale and Permian Basin, as it plans to return to profitability this year.
If not for a disputed one-time tax payment of $108 million that Marathon is appealing in the UK, the Houston energy explorer said it would have turned a narrow profit for the fourth quarter.
International production averaged 121,000 barrels per day for fourth quarter 2017, compared to 129,000 barrels a year ago. The decrease was due to the temporary shut-down of the Forties Pipeline System and planned turn-around activity in the UK, as well as natural field declines.
The company intends to invest $2.3 billion in capital spending in 2018 that’s highly concentrated in the onshore U.S. That would be less than the $2.4 billion planned to spend last year, but more than the roughly $2.1 billion Marathon actually spent after a mid-year round of cost cutting.
Marathon’s strongest presence remains in South Texas’ Eagle Ford shale, which is slowly growing again, although it’s overlooked in the shadow of West Texas’ much larger and busier Permian Basin.
About 60 percent of Marathon’s capital spending is dedicated to the Eagle Ford and the Dakotas’ Bakken shale, with most of the rest split between the Permian and Oklahoma.
Last year, Marathon sold its Canadian acreage for $2.5 billion, using the money to reduce debt and beef up its presence in the booming Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.
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