Citing “uncertainties” in the marketplace ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy Corp. both have announced in the last two days that they will be putting off revealing 2009 capital spending plans until the new year. Both companies have previously announced their budget and spending plans in December for the following year.

“With the markets experiencing so much volatility, we have chosen to see how conditions continue to evolve before we announce our 2009 capital plans,” John Richels, Devon’s president said on Tuesday. “Although we are not yet ready to announce our 2009 budget, we intend to roughly match our capital expenditures to cash flow. This will result in decreased activity as compared to 2008. However, we will remain flexible as the year unfolds and modify our capital investments accordingly.”

Oklahoma City-based Devon will announce its 2009 plans in conjunction with disclosure of its 2008 results.

ConocoPhillips Corp. said Monday it will postpone from mid-December to January the announcement of its 2009 budget due to the uncertainty of the oil and natural gas markets.

“The company continues to evaluate its capital and operating plans in light of the significant uncertainties associated with the outlook for crude oil, natural gas and refined product prices, as well as the effects on service and other costs related to the integrated oil sector,” the company said.

Other oil and natural gas companies have announced reduced spending plans for 2009 in recent weeks. The latest were Petro-Canada and Encana, which both announced cuts for 2009, PetroCanada by about one-third to $6.2 billion and Encana down 18% to about $6.1 billion (see Daily GPI, Dec. 12a; Dec. 12b).

Earlier capex downsizers included two Oklahoma City-based companies, Chesapeake Energy and GMX Resources Inc. (see Daily GPI, Dec. 9). Other companies have announced reduced exploration plans, cutting operations in the low price-plagued Rockies basins.

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