Hess

Hess Corp. is once again directing the lion’s share, more than 80%, of its planned $3 billion capital expenditure (capex) budget for 2020 to high-return investments in the Bakken Shale and offshore Guyana.

Hess Corp. senior executives on Wednesday designated the Bakken Shale and overseas operations in Guyana as the two sweet spots for most of the company’s capital expenditures in 2020.

Hess Corp. is bullish on the Bakken Shale, with North Dakota still the company’s U.S. growth engine, the CEO said Thursday.

Hess Midstream Partners LP said Thursday it plans to expand the Tioga Gas Processing Plant in the Bakken Shale by 150 MMcf/d, creating a 400 MMcf/d processing facility north of the Missouri River in North Dakota.

Buoyed by increased U.S. crude oil production and with an eye more clearly focused on “high return, low cost opportunities” in the Bakken Shale and Guyana, Hess Corp. said Wednesday it slashed financial losses in 4Q2018.

Hess Corp. plans to ramp up to six rigs and produce 135,000-145,000 boe/d in the Bakken Shale in 2019 as part of a $1.87 billion capital expenditure (capex) budget in the United States, management said Monday.

Potential operators bid on less than 1% of the offshore blocks offered for auction in the federal Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Lease Sale 251 completed on Wednesday, but while muted, total high bids eclipsed offers in the March sale.

Even in the midst of increased prospects for profit growth overseas, New York City-based Hess Corp.’s narrowing U.S. onshore portfolio remains firmly tied to its assets in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota, senior executives said Wednesday.

Ascent Resources LLC announced on Friday that it would acquire 113,400 net Utica Shale acres for $1.5 billion in a package of deals with multiple sellers, ballooning the company’s position in the play to more than 300,000 net acres and becoming one of the country’s largest private exploration and production (E&P) companies in the process.