2010 oil and gas spending tops $ 550 bn

Global capital spending by 221 oil and gas exploration and production companies rose by 47 % to $ 558 bn in 2010, according to a report from IHS.

A surge in acquisition activity in the US and Latin America fuelled the spike in spending, which rebounded after declining more than 20 % to $ 380 bn in 2009, the report said.
Acquisition spending saw a seven-fold increase to $ 125 bn, it said, compared with nearly $ 18 bn in 2009.
And ExxonMobil, which shelled out nearly $ 72 bn last year, was the largest spender globally, primarily because of its acquisition of XTO Energy, the report said, noting that Royal Dutch Shell, PetroChina, BP, Chevron and Apache were also big spenders.
“These companies were able to aggressively pursue these investments because they had significant cash flow to invest. Spending and cash flow were closely tied last year, and we expect the same for 2011, with both the E&Ps and Integrated oil companies continuing to invest at healthy levels,” said Nicholas Cacchione, director of energy equity research at IHS, and the lead author of the report.